Traveling at Christmas questions

[deborah_r]

If you will be somewhere else on Christmas day. do you bring all of the gifts with you? I may have asked this two years ago when we traveled, I'm not sure. We were thinking of going to see family in another state, but with the gifts I've bought so far, plus what we would receive from family there, I can't imagine how we'll get all the stuff there and back, and it seems a little crazy to do so. But I know my boys would love to spend Christmas Eve/Day with family (we will be on our own here if we don't go). I guess we could try to rent a minivan or something. We both drive Jettas. The other option is the train, but my husband bristles at having to load all of that stuff on and off the train. He gripes when it is just regular luggage and carseats.

[hillview]

Not me but my sister and BIL and 2 kids have come here for Christmas the last 3 years and they take EVERYTHING or have it shipped via Amazon (mainly Amazon) and then they bring it back in duffle bags (airplane) and even ship some stuff. That isn't my idea of fun but they do do it.

[stefani]

This is going to be our first Christmas with DS away from home. No, we are not going to bring all the gifts with us. It will cost $25 per luggage, so I am voting big luggage little contents.

[ellies mom]

We haven't traveled for Christmas for several years. But we used to fly out on Christmas Eve so we would open the presents that were going to stay home before we left (big things and less special stuff). We would have a few smaller/more special gifts sent down there if we were ordering it or bring it with us (we don't have a lot of present buying family so most of the gifts come from us) and just make sure to leave plenty of space in the luggage. We have as much of the stuff for our family shipped to my parents ahead of time as we can.

[AlbrightRC]

We travel every year for Christmas (with the exception when i put my foot down and asked my family to come to us). This year we are back to my in laws who wouldn't travel to us for all the world so Yes we will take all my son's gifts from santa(we no longer do gifts for each other). and the gifts for our nieces and nephews. We drive so space is not as big of an issue if we had to fly I might not go at all.

[elizabethkott]

We're traveling up to Boston to be with DH's side of the family for Christmas this year. Two years ago when we did it, I just had J's Santa Gifts in the trunk with a blanket over them. But now, he's a crafty little bugger. So I'm going to wrap everything in the Santa wrap at my mom's and then ship the whole kit and kaboodle up to my IL's, and ask them to just store it in the basement. I just don't want to chance J seeing his and Stevie's Santa presents... and when I say he's crafty, he's CRAFTY. AND nosey. A horrible, horrible combination when it comes to gifts!
What a PITA, though.

[rin]

We're not traveling this year, but we have in previous years and DH & I both have huge families who all get together around Christmas. Every year lots of our siblings/aunts/uncles/cousins end up traveling to see us or we go to someone's house, all out of state. We always fly, they're split between flying and driving. I don't think anyone in our extended family ever brings nuclear family gifts; it seems like people mostly open individual family gifts when they get home after Christmas. That's what we usually do!

[lalasmama]

We took all the presents with us. But we were traveling 75-150 miles by minivan, and there's just DD and I. But, she would be heartbroken knowing that there's presents at home... or thinking that Santa forgot her because we went to Auntie's!

[hannah]

We travel for Christmas every year. The last year we were here in our home for Christmas was 2006. Here is what we do. The night before we leave for our destination we open our Christmas presents to each other (the 4 of us). We leave these presents here in the house when we travel. Then when we are at our destination we have xmas with which ever side of the family we are celebrating with. We alternate years with my family and my husband's family. We then have to bring those presents home when we come back to our house. Luckily we usually travel on Southwest so we can have 8 bags for free and can pack all of our loot in our checked bags. Then when we come home we get to open the presents that Santa left for us. We ask him each year when we see him if he can leave our loot in CO. This works for us - it's lots of present opening but everyone seems to like how it works - and best of all we aren't traveling with our presents. We do of course bring the presents with to our destination for relatives. And then we ship presents to the other relatives on opposite years.

[mikala]

What do you do for stocking type gifts when you'll be gone over Christmas eve/Christmas day? Just bring them along and hang them wherever you are?

[hannah]

What do you do for stocking type gifts when you'll be gone over Christmas eve/Christmas day? Just bring them along and hang them wherever you are?

At our house, Santa fills the stockings so the stocking items stay here at our house along with the santa gifts. This year I leave with the kids a few days before my husband so he will be able to stuff the stockings and put the santa gifts under the tree before he leaves. That way the gifts will be "delivered" and ready for opening for when we come home from our trip.

[connor_mommy]

We travel to Seattle from CA. I let the boys open up one present each before we head up. I usually don't bring any additional presents up with us. I'll bring some stocking stuffers and a small present from Santa. We usually return half of the presents the boys receive and repurchase at a later time. In the past, I've packed what I could in our two big suitcases and shipped the rest home via FedEx. I also shop early, so when we drive up during the summer, I drop off a box of toys at my mom's house. I just have to remember to make a list of what I have up there.

[AlbrightRC]

What do you do for stocking type gifts when you'll be gone over Christmas eve/Christmas day? Just bring them along and hang them wherever you are?

We take stocking and stocking stuffers and just lay the filled stocking in front of the stack of santa gifts.

[lfp2n]

I'm flying to the UK and I will take all DDs manageable presents and her filled stocking with me. I have presents for the cousins to take and I guess I will carry back her presents from the cousins. Things that are impractical like a razor scooter we will leave under our tree here and she can open when we get back. It doesn't cause a problem with Santa as she only gets small stocking stuffer items from Santa which are portable, all the bigger stuff is from us anyway.

[sweetsue98]

We open all our gift on Christmas Eve morning to refrain from traveling with too many gifts.