How to Have an Amazing Stay-At-Home Christmas
For the past twenty-three years I’ve had one hard and fast holiday rule: no traveling for Christmas. The reactions I get when I tell people about this are wide-ranging. Some are aghast—how Scrooge-like to turn my back on family on the biggest holiday of the year! Some are envious of my side-stepping what they consider a stressful annual ritual. Some can’t even imagine the holiday without a huge table packed with grandparents and cousins.
While, for us, every Christmas is “stay-at-home Christmas,” this year, though, we’ll be far from alone in the “home for Christmas” experience. As someone with years of practice under her belt, I want to say…embrace it. There is absolutely joy to be had in the smallest of celebrations.
Handmade wreath.
How it Started
Before 1997, I traveled every year. My parents got divorced when I was six and, shortly thereafter, my dad moved across the country. My brother and I flew to see him over our winter break each December. More often than not, that meant boarding a plane on Christmas Day—the only day in the holiday season that wasn’t blocked out for flights paid for by our dad’s frequent flyer miles. For more than a decade, we woke up at home in central Illinois each Christmas morning, drove three hours through the snow to our grandparents’ house near Chicago to open presents with extended family, and then were dropped off at the airport to spend Christmas afternoon on a flight to the East Coast, arriving just in time for a late dinner in Pennsylvania.
Back then, that was my normal. I didn’t even realize how much I hated it until I got married, moved to Colorado, and was able to choose something different. That’s when I put my foot down. There would be no traveling for the holidays. No negotiations between parents and in-laws. No guilt about who we chose to spend time with. No packing stress. No flight delays. No driving through blizzards. We would spend Christmas at home. Every. Single. Year.
How It’s Going
On Christmas Day, I get up early, not to load the car for a long drive, but to make coffee and breakfast. I turn on holiday music as I putter around the kitchen in the soft glow of twinkle lights. When the rest of the family wakes up to the scent of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, we gather on the floor around the tree to open presents, rolls and coffee in hand. Once gifts are given and received, we spend the morning happily alternating between napping, assembling new toys, reading, playing, and watching movies. At some point, food is put out…not a formal dinner, but finger food and sweets. Maybe we play a board game. Or go for a walk. At least once, we went out to the movie theatre, just because.
Sugard cranberries.
Over the past two decades, my husband and I have traveled often for Thanksgiving, we’ve occasionally traveled after Christmas, and we’ve pretty regularly spent Christmas Eve with nearby family. We’re not anti-social hermits, we’ve just never spent Christmas Day anywhere other than at home. The rule remained even after our son was born, with all the changing family dynamics brought by having a child in the mix.
It was never about being inflexible or rigid. It was about setting outside expectations that matched our personal needs. After the first few years, no one expected us to travel, so even when we moved across the country, we were given the freedom and space to create our own holiday traditions. As much as I love my extended family, that remains the best gift they could have given us.
Christmas at home is mellow and relaxing. It’s the one day a year where there’s genuinely nowhere to be. Embrace it.
My Best Christmas at Home Tips
If you’ve always celebrated Christmas with extended family or friends, here are some tips for a stay-at-home holiday.
Charcuterie board from Christmas 2019.
Plan special food. Every culture everywhere uses food to celebrate, so plan something special. It doesn’t have to be a feast and you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen, but take the time to decide on your meals in advance, and be sure to include some holiday treats.
Christmas shouldn’t be boring. A holiday at home is different from one spent with people you don’t spend every day around, and you can’t rely on small talk and languid “catching-up” chats to fill the time. If you’re giving gifts to immediate family, make sure you include something to do—a new book, a board game, a craft project, or even electronics that require setting up. If you’re on your own, consider gifting yourself a fun at-home activity that you save especially for Christmas day.
Reach out. Sure, go ahead and participate in a Zoom gathering if that’s your thing, but if not, just take a few minutes to make a call to someone you love. You don’t have to socialize for hours, just let them know you’re thinking about them.
Be festive. A holiday at home is still a holiday, so treat it as such. Bake Grandma’s sugar cookies. Listen to Blue Christmas. Build a snowman. Walk on the beach. Leave the twinkle lights on all day long. Drink hot chocolate with whipped cream and a candy cane. Watch Die Hard. Mull some wine. Build a fire. Put the yule log video on the tv. Do whatever feels celebratory and comforting to you. You might just start a new tradition.
