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For those of you who spend Christmas at a timeshare...

bugzapper

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How do you celebrate? Do you bring decorations from home? Is it possible to rent a decorated Christmas tree? Do you bring stockings for the kids? Do you cook up a big meal or do you eat out at a restaurant?

Just wondering--we plan to spend Christmas in Mexico next year. For us, it will be the first time away from home (except with relatives). My kids are old enough that I won't have to explain how Santa will find them, but I still want to find a way to make the holiday a special time. :)
 

Passepartout

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Do it like the locals. There's a great Christmas tradition in Mexico. Attend Cathedral Christmas eve. Greet people with 'Feliz Navidad'. You will find an understanding of a different culture that you will treasure.

If you find a need to decorate, you can find inexpensive stuff there, or take some from home. A few strings of lights will pack easily.

Be a traveler, not a tourist.

Jim Ricks
 

pjrose

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Just a little tabletop tree, fake, from kmart one year, with a small string of lights. Another year the potted ficus that was part of the timeshare's decor sufficed and was good for a laugh (the kids were old enough at that point that not having a traditional tree was fine).

We brought limited presents (still more than necessary LOL), and cooked a pre-marinated turkey breast fillet, pre-made mashed potatoes, canned gravy, stuffing mix, frozen vegs, bakery pie - it was good, easy, simple clean-up, and no stress. One of the presents is usually a big jigsaw puzzle, which we worked on the rest of the week at the TS.
 

rsnash

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The Vacation IS the Christmas Present!

Disclaimer: We're Jewish.

But, it's Hanukah too. :) Read my dh's blog post: Happy Chanuconch in which Conch Fritters are substituted for Latkes this year. :D

We're at Ocean Reef Resort & Yacht Club in Freeport Bahamas right now. The stores and resort are decorated, there's a decorated tree in the open air lobby and the office, and a big tree in Count Basie Square in Port Lucaya.

If you are at a resort during Christmas, I would call that the present and be done with it. If anything, just small token gifts for the kids, i.e. something from Santa.
 

dwsupt

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The kids are fine

The kids are fine.... how do I convince the wife that its ok to leave the area during the holidays?:wall:
 

summervaca

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I am at Glacier Canyon in WI Dells right now and am having a great time! We brought our little "Charlie Brown" tree, 2 strings of lights, our stockings and a vinyl holly berry table cloth and our unit looks very holidayish:whoopie: :whoopie: The last five years in our family have been very difficult in that my husband and I have both lost our mother's and one sibling each. Christmas has become fraught with emotional landmines for me. Couple that with the fact that everyone seems to agree that we should host every single holiday and things had gotten to be less than merry. So this year at Thanksgiving when I went to get the turkey out of the oven and it still seemed half frozen, I looked at my husband and said, "I am not having Christmas Eve at this house". Hence, the reason why we are at a timeshare over Christmas and loving it. We have spent so much time together as a family just enjoying things and I don't believe we would have done that at home. Things are just too hectic. My daughter and I were both worried that it wouldn't seem like Christmas, but it has with all the holiday music and decorations and the happy people everywhere.

We have moved our family celebration to New Year's day when we will be hosting a brunch. I am looking forward to that. Enjoy your holidays, whatever they may be and however you choose to spend them!
 

Big Matt

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This is as good advice of any I've read on TUG in a year. Great idea for any holiday, but Christmas especially.

Get involved with the locals and you'll have a blast. Or course they do anyway.

Do it like the locals. There's a great Christmas tradition in Mexico. Attend Cathedral Christmas eve. Greet people with 'Feliz Navidad'. You will find an understanding of a different culture that you will treasure.

If you find a need to decorate, you can find inexpensive stuff there, or take some from home. A few strings of lights will pack easily.

Be a traveler, not a tourist.

Jim Ricks
 

pjrose

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Disclaimer: We're Jewish.

But, it's Hanukah too. :) Read my dh's blog post: Happy Chanuconch in which Conch Fritters are substituted for Latkes this year. :D

If you are at a resort during Christmas, I would call that the present and be done with it. If anything, just small token gifts for the kids, i.e. something from Santa.

So's DH - The menorah and latkes and gelt share space with the tree and stockings.

And I like your point about the trip being the present - you're so right!


I am at Glacier Canyon in WI Dells right now and am having a great time! We brought our little "Charlie Brown" tree, 2 strings of lights, our stockings and a vinyl holly berry table cloth and our unit looks very holidayish:whoopie: :whoopie: .....Hence, the reason why we are at a timeshare over Christmas and loving it. We have spent so much time together as a family just enjoying things and I don't believe we would have done that at home. ...... Enjoy your holidays, whatever they may be and however you choose to spend them!

I'm with you - it sounds so much more enjoyable than all the stress that comes with hosting the big holiday at home! We are leaving in a few days for Williamsburg. Since we've been there many times there's no pressure to "do it all." We'll see what's new at the historical sites, and spend most of our time just enjoying the ability to relax and play it by ear without a bunch of scheduling or responsibilities.
 

BocaBum99

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We are at the Marriott Ko'Olina. We brought a 2 foot tall artificial Christmas tree with lights on it. And, we went to Best Buy on Tuesday night to do all of our Christmas shopping and bought some Christmas wrapping paper. Opened gifts first thing in the morning. Prime Rib dinner is about to be served. Mmmm, mmmm, good.
 

Marcia3641

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If you are at a resort during Christmas, I would call that the present and be done with it. If anything, just small token gifts for the kids, i.e. something from Santa.

I'm with you!!!:) We (my 15yr old daughter and I) have been in Flagstaff since Saturday. If she thinks she getting anything else, she's CRAZY!!!

Marcia3641
 

swift

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Last year when we were away for Christmas I shipped to the resort ahead of time a box with some of our presents in it and some of the Christmas stuff to decorate with. The decorations were just some cheap items that I purchased from the $1 store that I thought would make the unit feel like Christmas but I would leave them behind rather than pack them up to take back home. For a Christmas tree I took a strand of lights and wraped them around the fake tall plant that was in our unit. If I remember right it was a fake Bird of Paradise plant. Keep in mind when you are purchasing your gifts this year they need to be small enough to pack back. The Ipod clock docking stations that my teens got last year I brought with me in carry on bags. I had put swim towels in the bag so the kids thought they were just full of swim stuff.


Here is a picture. It is very fuzzy I think my DH was laughing as he took it. :)

12-26-2007-67.jpg
 

lprstn

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We are in the Smokies, TN this holiday. This time we forgot our small tree, so I hid presents around the condo, the kids LOVED the hide and go seek with the gifting. So much we may do it next year.

For Christmas eve, we went to an inspirational Christmas show. On Christmas day we ate in with a Cajun Fried Turkey I ordered online, macaroni, veggies, and peach cobbler. We also had tons of homemade cookies.

Then after the gifts are opened, and the kids now bored....WE WENT TO THE POOL, played ping pong, and putt, putt then called it a night.
 

marcmuff

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We went to Sedona during Christmas 2007. We (9 friends and relatives) had a wonderful dinner Christmas Eve at Cucina Rustica.

My husband sent me a Thomas Kinkaid floral arrangement and I put a string of Christmas lights around it.

ar1a.jpg


We found a Christmas tree in the dumpster that had been decorated with toilet paper, beer bottle caps, corks. etc. My daughter, Sherry, bought some Christmas lights at Walgreen put them on it.

ar2a.jpg


ar3a.jpg


Sherry bought (at Safeway) and cooked Christmas dinner (turkey and all the trimmings) in our kitchen at Arroyo Roble (there were 9 of us)

ar5a.jpg
 

bugzapper

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Great Ideas!

I especially like the pictures of the "trees"--a little creativity goes a long way!

My wife likes the idea of following local customs and celebrating Christmas Mexican style! It should be an education for all of us.
 

Malibu Sky

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Our Palm Desert Christmas....
 

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mapper

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We've spent the last three Christmases, 2006, 2007, & 2008 at the Marriott Grand Chateau in Las Vegas. We normally take 1 medium sized pre-strung tree and 1 small sized pre-strung tree as well as our designated box of ornaments for our Marriott week. We set the bigger tree up in the living room and the other in our daughter's room unless we have family in the one bedroom lock off side.

We decorate the whole three bedroom unit and last year we took our Big George rotisserie up with a turkey. We decided to cook our turkey last year the day after Christmas and attended the Christmas buffet at Wynn's. It was well overpriced, a 3 1/2 hour wait, and the food was nothing special at all.

This year due to the current divorce I am experiencing, (definitely not a choice I have made), we took up 1 tree. I opted not to stay my whole week as the circumstances have been less than joyous. My husband came up Christmas eve night and left Christmas day after our daughter opened gifts and we went to the Bellagio Christmas buffet. Much better buffet, 1 1/2 hour wait, and reasonably priced. My daughter and I made good time driving home on Friday and I cooked a full Christmas dinner for my whole family.

We packed up on Saturday and headed to our WorldMark Timeshare in Big Bear and are bringing in the New Year making new memories! Next year we will have to stay home for Christmas now that holidays will have to be split. :wall: My daughter is hoping that Santa figures out that we won't be going to the Marriott and will make a visit to our home.

I am sure no matter how you decide to celebrate, it really doesn't matter what you take with you or don't take, as long as you have your family to celebrate with....you can't lose.

Best wishes to everyone for a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

:hi:

Diana
 

Jbart74

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This is really a great thread!

My partner and I will be heading to Grand Cayman on Jan. 17th. and my Mother will be meeting us there. We have spent all of our years together with her for Christmas Proper whether at her house (mostly) or ours (last year) and I have never really been without my Mom over Christmas until this year. Go ahead, call me a mamma's boy and you'd be right.

This year we all agreed that our timeshare week at our owned resort, one we have loved and nurtured for many years, would indeed take the place of our travel to each other's homes, states, etc... Why don't we just wait til we all get there on the 17th of January and pretend that that is Christmas? Not to upset the faithful, we just put off the date of OUR celebration for a few weeks and we all can't wait to get there and be joyous together... on the beach!

YAY! I have the world's smallest LED tree from WalMart and I'm going to bring a few strands of lights to string around the patio of our townhouse... I can only hope that we get called rednecks in the Caymans!

This is the closest we have come... one week, we will actually get to be there for Christmas or New Year's Eve... Working on that.....

JB :whoopie: :wave: :cheer:
 
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