am i the only one dreading the holidays?

financially we cant afford presents, but neither can his mom/brothers, or my parents/brothers/sisters so thats not really a huge stresser. its the traveling and being away from home with the babies that i dont feel like dealing with. 16hours in a car with sean who can barely make 20min in his carseat?! plus having to invade my moms kitchen with bottles and formula, having to put the babies down for naps, and for bed isnt gonna be fun either. if i didnt miss my family so much i would probably just stay here! anybody else not really looking forward to the holidays??

 

If I had to drive 16 hours with 2 babies, I think I would dread the holidays as well! :hug: Is there any way that they can come up and see you? Hopefully once you are there, things will be fine...but I am sure its going to be daunting thinking about all the preparation you have to do for a trip like that. GL!!

 

Can they travel to you this year, hon? Maybe you should at least ask-maybe they'd love the change of scenery! If gas money is an issue for them, maybe you could offer to kick in the money you would have spent on gas driving to them.

What about seeing if they would want to try and schedule a trip to your house after the first of the year? Or could you go an visit them alone for a few days right before or after christmas and let your DH stay home with the babies?

Good luck! (I'm dreading the holidays too, as I'll be nearing the end of my pregnancy and I'm scared to death I'll go into labor and not be home for Christmas with my older son!)

 

I wouldn't do it either. Ugh!!! We're not going anywhere this year.

 

his mom and brothers wouldnt make the trip, his mom works xmas eve AND xmas morning. my mom and dad have 6 kids living at home still (ages 19-5), i cant imagine fitting them all into our little 3 bedroom lol. plus my little brother and his wife live in nc and her family lives in ny so they make the drive up north too, so i wouldnt see him at all if everyone came here, and i doubt my mom would want to miss seeing him since he's deploying soon. lol its a mess. its my first christmas away from "home" so its just hard to imagine not being there with all my brothers and sisters. blahhh tis the season!!

 

I don't blame you for dreading the holidays! It sucks that everyone cannot meet up with you! I hope the trip goes better then you expect!

 

*hugs*

I was dreading a trip when the babies were a little younger than yours. What helped for us what that we drove at night when they were sleeping the most. We also used the sun shade from their seats to block out lights on them. We also made a lot of stops so they could get out of their seats a little. But we were also only going 6-7 hours, not 16.

 

QUOTE(cottoncandysky @ Oct 26 2008, 11:23 AM) [snapback]1042572[/snapback]
its my first christmas away from "home" so its just hard to imagine not being there


I hear you on this...we have to leave the first of December for DH's first duty station. I've lived here, with all my family, all my life...and here we have to leave JUST before Christmas, my favorite holiday. And we're going to be 22 hours away (or so yahoo maps says, we'll find out soon enough). DH said he may be getting 2 weeks vacation for Christmas, but even so, we won't have the funds to be able to go home, this year...it's going to be such a weird Christmas. :huh:

 

I'm not really looking forward to them either, DH has to work for Thanksgiving and Xmas this year.

 

we're playing it zen for the holidays this year. all of our family is out of state and at least 12 hours away (we're in atlanta, my family is in michigan, DH's family is in houston). we figure our guys are going to be too little to tolerate the 13 hour drive to texas but we're keeping our options open just in case we feel confident enough to try. but realistically we've decided that although we miss family and want to see them at the holidays, we might just be doing our very first christmas as a family here with just the four of us. it won't be as much fun as seeing the big extended family but we're trying to be optimistic and look at it as a chance to establish our own christmas traditions this first year.

we want to try but you're right, it's going to be a very difficult task. if we're just not up to it we're going to try to be happy with the decision to just stay here. it's just one christmas out of a lifetime of christmases, and they'll be too young to remember anyway.

 

QUOTE(aimeethomp @ Oct 26 2008, 12:58 PM) [snapback]1042675[/snapback]
I'm not really looking forward to them either, DH has to work for Thanksgiving and Xmas this year.


My DH will work both holidays this year too. I hate it.

 

Luckily at their age they love boxes with stuff. DS's 1st christmas he only got a box with some rattles and a bear and he was happy for hours. We dont travel with our kids except for funerals then we only take the younger ones. We web cam with family on birthdays and holidays. I hate to travel with older babies cause they dont sleep like younger ones in the car. :hug: If you cant make it this year try for next and alternate.

 

At the age of your babies, we told our families we weren't coming for the holidays and instead asked them to come to us. They were very understanding and were more than willing to change the normal routine. Everyone brought a dish and it was much better and a whole lot less stressful on the babies. Is there anyway they can come to you for this Christmas to make it easier on you?

 

We're flying 12 hours home, having a small layover, and then flying another hour to my hometown with what will be 7 month olds. Not looking forward to the flights much (we did then in Sept so feeling a little better about them then I did before), but loving the idea of our first Christmas with the babies. I feel bad for you being stuck in a car with them for 16 hours - at least in a plane you can move around. I would totally dread that too.

I'm not worried about the present aspect of it. Mine are pretty non-discriminatory at the moment. They love pretty much everything, and I'm sure regardless of what they end up with, the wrapping will be way more interesting to them anyway

Maybe when you get there your family can give you a much deserved break for a while. Its a long way to go, but it'll be worth it in the end

 

I don't think I would do it. My parents only live 30 minutes away and I've only been to their house once since the babies were born. LOL They always come here.

 

I was just thinking about this. My girls don't sleep when we are out, not even in their carseats or stroller. My family fortunately lives in town but I am afraid they won't sleep in the PNP either. Ugh! GL to you !

 

QUOTE(Kyrstyn @ Oct 26 2008, 02:32 PM) [snapback]1042484[/snapback]
If I had to drive 16 hours with 2 babies, I think I would dread the holidays as well! :hug:


Me too!! Major hugs for having to prepare for that.

 

QUOTE(cottoncandysky @ Oct 26 2008, 04:27 PM) [snapback]1042477[/snapback]
financially we cant afford presents, but neither can his mom/brothers, or my parents/brothers/sisters so thats not really a huge stresser. its the traveling and being away from home with the babies that i dont feel like dealing with. 16hours in a car with sean who can barely make 20min in his carseat?! plus having to invade my moms kitchen with bottles and formula, having to put the babies down for naps, and for bed isnt gonna be fun either. if i didnt miss my family so much i would probably just stay here! anybody else not really looking forward to the holidays??


I love Christmas but I´m nervous too. I´m flying back home to spend the holidays with my family and am not looking forward to the 2 plane journeys and hanging around in airports. Mine will practically be 7 months old when we do it, but I still think it´s going to be a nightmare. Mine don´t sleep much outside either. I don´t envy your 16-hour car journey. Could you fly? Maybe you can take regular car trips to get Sean more used to it? I´m going to take mine out as much as pos, in preparation, so they learn to deal with the chaos of life outside the flat. GL to you and I hope it isnt too hell-ish!

 

Be optimistic. You might just be surprised. I just got back from a trip to see my family - 600 miles away, a 14 hour drive, just me and the boys. I expected it to be an utter disaster. I was pleasantly surprised that the babies tolerated the car seats much better than expected, and they were amazingly good everywhere we stopped.

 

Wow, what a bunch of scrooges you guys are. Being with family for the holidays is way more important than your routines. :rotflmbo:

I feel the same way. We will be driving 16 hours with all 5 of ours over Thanksgiving. We tried to get plane tickets, but since they are more than $50 each we just can't do it! lol The only airline we can afford these days is the one Bernard and Bianca flew on in The Rescuers! (Wasn't it a bird named Orville?)

Any routine we may have going will be shot too. (Can you tell it is dh's family and not mine?!)

 

We are really tight financially this year too. We got a few things off of Craigslist so that they have a few things. It will be harder for the older ones. They are used to a lot of presents. Luckily I think they will get a few things from Grandparents and aunts. I also don't want them to expect a lot and get loaded up with a ton of toys again. This way they will appreciate what they have and take better care of it. I hope. We usually don't go anywhere for Christmas. The in-laws usually come on Christmas Eve and we do Christmas alone on Christmas morning. My mom used to come on x-mas eve until a couple of years ago when they moved to NC. We went to see them right after x-mas for the first time last year, I was still pregnant. It was a long drive. We will not go this year and did not go the year before. We usually send each other gifts and call after we open them. We also take pictures so they can see us open them. We already have their gifts for the babies. I don't know if they will send anything else, I am not expecting so. My dad celebrates Hannukah so we go to his house for that. He lives about 30 minutes away. We will probably do the same thing this year. Good luck, I hope if you go it goes well.

jen