This is the first time we will be away from home on Christmas which means we will be waking up in a hotel. Of course my kids are old enough that they are past the Santa thing, but I’m not! When we are home, I still wrap gifts and they open them. Silly I know, but I love it. Our son is doing a cross-country move and we are doing it over Christmas, so we are not visiting family or anything like that, it’s just us. It will be fine, and we’ve planned something special for later in the day, but I’d like to do something to make the morning special.
Since he is moving, space is at a premium so I can’t drag along the comforts of home. Any suggestions from those of you who spend holidays on the road?
In my other post about the tree, I’m trying to make our home a little Christmasy even though we will be leaving shortly after my daughter gets home. In my head I know that everything will work out, but in my heart, I’m struggling to maintain a few traditions in a non-traditional year.
We were away at Christmas one year when our daughters were still quite young. We flew home and found that Santa had indeed brought presents and left them under the tree at our house! Of course this was helped by the fact that we flew home on Christmas day (the airport and the flight were nearly empty). It is possible that Santa might have had a helper who showed up while we were away.
One time I was away for Christmas, stuck at school on the wrong coast, and found a few other students who were in the same situation. We had what one person called a “Christmas for homeless waifs” which was very pleasant. A couple of the participants were of a religion that did not normally celebrate Christmas, and they quite enjoyed it.
A stocking and a glass of eggnog and a friend or two or three can go a long way.
When I was in elementary school, our family was traveling for Christmas one year. We decided it was best to celebrate by doing stuff we normally didn’t do. We went swimming, ate dinner in a restaurant, and all went to a movie. I still remember it as a really fun, very memorable Christmas.
Can you celebrate Christmas on a different day once you get to your destination? We are having our family Christmas on December 29 because that’s when we will all be here.
Maybe do your Christmas once you get to your son’s new place. It can be his first Christmas in his new place to live.
Bring Christmas patterned swim suits and hang out by the pool, hot tub. The hotel will be beautifully decorated with plushly decorated trees. Snap some great photos. Buy santa hats for the photos. Bring one wrapped gift each, and hang up stockings. Bring small gifts and candy to fill your stockings. Look up church services ahead of time and go early to “eve” services. Instead of bringing gifts, locate a mall within walking distance from your hotel, and do your shopping for each other there, and get it wrapped at the gift wrap station in the mall. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Every time we spent Christmas in a hotel…oh what fun!
Unless Christmas on the 25th is a religious thing for you, pick another day.
We always were at my grandparents for Christmas, but when we got home Santa had left many gifts for us (bikes, bigger trucks) at our home. I’ve been on a cruise and there were many themed events. I made my kids go to Mass, we had a few gifts. We’ve gone skiing on Christmas many times, and my mother makes us go to Mass and breakfast first to make it different than any other day.
My brother and SIL had to work on Christmas many years ago, and we had their kids for the holidays. They picked them up, asked about their Christmas, and then said “Guess what? It’s Christmas TOMORROW at our house” and they went home and put up their stockings and Santa came that night. The kids thought it was great. Double everything.
You can buy jellylike seasonal window decorations. They peel on and peel off without hurting the window. They’re inexpensive and easy to carry and would change the feeling of a hotel room when the light came through them Christmas morning.
One year we were away when the kids were college, high school and middle school ages. We had major travel related presents before the trip and I secretly took a tiny tree with miniature ornaments and lights… I wrapped gift cards and cd’s (it was a while ago) to have presents under the tree.
I agree that you should celebrate another day. Do the tree at home to please your daughter. Celebrate before you leave. We often did growing up as one of my parents often had to be away from home on Christmas Day. It didn’t make it less special.
I like the idea of trying new things on the 25th in your vacation destination instead of trying to recreate Christmas at a distance.
That way you’ll have two great days creating memories. I know several families that schedule trips for Christmas. Once they start doing it, they don’t want to stop.
We’ve traveled at Christmas a couple of times. We did all the normal stuff leading up to Christmas at home-tree decorating, cookie making. singing, lights, etc… We traveled with a stocking for each kid with any smaller sized gifts and brought a couple of things good to have on the trip such as bathing suits, books or new sandals as wrapped gifts. The time we traveled with kids still young enough to believe in Santa I took pictures of the gifts too big or impractical to give in their bedrooms and put the pictures in small boxes for them to open along with a note from Santa saying he’d dropped off the big stuff at the house because he knew it would be hard for us to transport it home. Doing Christmas away with older kids was easier because they didn’t want as much stuff for Christmas and were happy with smaller sized items such as jewelry, gift cards and gift certificates for special gifts.
Celebrating on another day may work well for your family. Ours felt it would be sad to miss out on our traditional Christmas morning so it was important for our family to recreate it abroad.
We had several memorable holidays in hotels, including one Christmas in a nice hotel in Hawaii. Bring some small presents that can be unwrapped in the morning! We always do. Big ones can be saved for Christmas 2.0 (which we always celebrate in January anyway). One trip, I hid Mr. B’s present under the tree in the lobby while he was asking the concierge about something. Then I walked with him by the tree and said with surprise, “Look! There is a package from Santa… it says it is for you!” We always brought our little travel tree to decorate the room - a sticky thing that has led lights, which when it is folded, it does not take up much space at all. The twinkle it provided was so awesome.
Right, see it as an adventure. You can open some presents at a nice dinner on Christmas eve. Or a few at breakfast, if you have something planned for Xmas afternoon. For years, DH and I flew to his mom’s on the 25th and celebrated with my family the night before (or a few days earlier.) It works. This year, D1 will be visiting her bf’s parents, so we’ll have our get together before they leave.
Those jelly things can go on room mirrors, too. Maybe a middle of the night surprise. I snuck stockings into my luggage when we met up with D1 in a foreign country.
We return home late Christmas Eve evening. I am taking dollar store decorations to decorate the condo we
will be in the week before with S and DIL and 5 yr old G’son in CA…
I have just decorated a houseplant with lights and tiny ornaments and it looks festive and ridiculous all
at the same time. We did not want to deal with a live tree and leave it for a week and neither of us are
ready for a not live tree (also do not want to store it).
This is our first year in 33 that D will not be home so we decided to mix it up.
It all seems odd right now and making it up as we go.
You could stop at any grocery and buy a little tree for the table in your room. Take some cookies
with you. Make some mimosas. Put on some Christmas music (note to self).
Window gels, miniature tree, easily packable presents, treasured easily packable table runners, holiday dishtowels, Christmas stockings. All arrived by air or by car for our hotel Christmas. And yes we had takeout Chinese food followed by a movie!
One year when my kids were elementary and middle school aged we had to be away from home over the entire holidays and left my parent’s house before dawn on Christmas and didn’t arrive at our destination until evening. We opened stockings in the airport gate area while waiting to board our plane. It wasn’t ideal but we made the best of it. Some years life just happens.
We always brought our little travel tree to decorate the room - a sticky thing that has led lights, which when it is folded, it does not take up much space at all. The twinkle it provided was so awesome.