Empty house on Christmas day -- any suggestions?

[wdisneelvr]

We will be packed up and ready for our move to Orlando the day after Christmas. We are very excited about moving to Florida.

It will be just the three of us...DH, DS (17) and I.

Everything will be packed and put into the moving truck the day after Christmas.

I was wondering, what kind of a Christmas could we have?

Any suggestions on something that doesn't take too much work, something that is easy? We won't have any decorations or a tree up.

As a mom, I guess I'm feeling badly for not thinking about Christmas since moving is very stressful any time of the year. I've been so busy making all the moving arrangements, I haven't gotten any presents yet. Should we wait to have our Christmas after the move?

 

[DMickey28]

I am with you. we aren't moving the day after christmas but we are starting our drive from boston to the midwest on new years day. we both are working full time up until then as well. it is stressfull and i just wanted to send a hug!!!!

 

[caseylouandtyler2]

We didn't move around Christmas but, one year my parents were remodeling there kitchen. They had gutted it, but the new cabinets did not show up on time. Hmmm. I know there is a lesson there. However the new appliances had and were sitting in the living room and dinning room. There was no place to put the tree, no way to cook. I couldn't stand it. I went and bought a princess pine I think at the florist decorated it with paper ornaments and beads and things and plopped it in the middle of the gutted kitchen. I called it our charlie brown tree. We did do presents but we went out to dinner. Do you know the only place we found open was a Chinese Restaurant. We all laughed about it. It reminded us of that Christmas movie. I can't remember the name of it. The one with Ralphie and the BB gun. "your gonna shoot your eye out kid."

Since your son is 17 I think he'll understand and you'll be O.K. waiting to you get to FL to have a nice celebration.

Congratulations on your move. And Have a Wonderful Christmas.

 

[wdwnutze]

I would definately wait til your in your new place to celebrate Christmas! Your right that it is a stressful time of year anyway even without moving. I would spend the day going t a movie and make dinner reservations somewhere for the 3 of you. You could even wait to shop til you get to your new destination. Pick a day on the calendar to celebrate the holiday. Good luck with the move.

 

[Phrebert]

Postpone Christmas until you are settled in new house. that way you could have your first "christmas" in your new house

 

[LisaTx]

Do the grocery stores have the dinners you can buy like they do at Thanksgiving? You could let them do all of the cooking and buy some festive holiday paper plates.

I know, it's not perfect, but it sounds easy.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Congratulations on your move, I hope it goes well. You might consider celebrating Christmas by doing some kind of community work. I mean like serving dinner at a local church or retiement home. They always need volunteers and you would not be sitting in a house full of boxes all day. Another thought is to check into a hotel in your area that is all decorated for the holiday, enjoy the decorations, have a nice brunch, maybe even walk around and say goodby to your old city. It is hard to move but over Christmas would be even worse, good luck to you!

 

[Cruisin]

Have a nice dinner out on Christmas Day and then plan for Christmas in January.

 

[wdisneelvr]

Wow these suggestions are great!!!

Thank you all for being so caring. In the whirlwind of moving I didn't think about Christmas (I know how could anyone forget?) LOL

I appreciate your thoughtfulness and will discuss these ideas with my family. I would like to devote most of the day to NOT packing more boxes, at least some time out for the 3 of us. We will have a 10hr drive and need to destress before all the bigger stressers hit when we arrived, yikes!

You DISers are the BEST and always come running for a fellow dis-ers in need.

~hugs~

julie

 

[disykat]

What a stressful time to move! I agree with most of the other posters, but one thing I wouldn't do is delay your celebration. I would just celebrate differently and more simply. For gifts maybe give each other gift certificates or IOU's that you can shop for after Christmas. Heck you could even make a picture of a tree on a piece of paper and put the gifts under it. Just use humor and enjoy the novelty of the day. The only thing you can't really do is eat a big meal and that can easily be done at a restaurant. I wouldn't want to move and have the pressure of a delayed celebration hanging over my head - it probably wouldn't ever happen!

 

[minniecarousel]

Keep in mind that your son isn't a little boy anymore. (yikes! that alone is sad - sorry!) And this move is an adventure for him. You'll always remember this particular Christmas as the one w/o a tree...etc. Yeah - go to a movie - eat out - just do it "different". Hey - maybe next year you can visit the Mouse on Christmas Day!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I say plan something simple. To me those are the kind I like the best. Do something unique.

Maybe Santa will come.

 

[Micca]

The day we move to Orlando would be like Christmas for me

 

[Kallison]

I would try and make ressies at a nice restaurant and maybe exchange one gift each. Plan a nice relaxing Disney weekend, once you are settled.

We might be moving to Florida too, but I am not excited about it. Even with the snow, I would rather stay in PA. Good luck in your new home.

 

[RUDisney]

Order yourself a Heavenly Ham meal/feast. You'll have leftover ham for the ride the next day, plus you can microwave the sides and you get dessert with it.

Give your DS something for Christmas. Even though he's old enough to understand, it will still be sad for him not to receive anything until January. Our most pathetic Christmas was the year my youngest sister was born. Mom went into labor at 4:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve and had my sister at 8:30 that night. We had our traditional meal with my Gramma and my siblings, but it wasn't the same without my parents there. We also waited until my Mom came home before opening our presents from Santa. Don't get me wrong, in the big scheme of things, a wonderful thing happened and I love my sister to pieces. She'll be 13 this year. YIKES! It just wasn't the same without the gifts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I think, in our case, we were more disappointed with not getting to see everyone's reactions to what we got for them instead of seeing what they got us.

 

[KathyFP]

Volunteer. There are a lot of place where you could help to serve a holiday meal for someone less fortunate.

It is better to give than to receive.

 

[DD2Disney]

I agree with the poster above who said its not the same if you don't atleast exchange one or two gifts. Especially for your DS. I realize he is older but STILL...

Last year we spent the holiday in California, our flight there was on Christmas day. We still had presents and what not (we did it earlier in December. It just didnt seem right. Even this year it still seems like we didnt have a Christmas last year.

 

[wdisneelvr]

You are all amazing, I had no idea so many others have had some crazy Christmas's in the past as well. This is my first one, and I'm sure I'll never forget it!

Thanks again for your wonderful suggestions, they really touched my heart.

julie

 

[cyndilou01]

I say wait til you get to Orlando and buy a annual pass for each of you..then for the next year you can celebrate your Christmas move..... They are cheaper for Florida Residents... Just enjoy the day being a family Christmas is not about the trees and the gifts anyway... sometime I think we forget the true meaning of Christmas...

Drive Safe...