Posts from Splinter in thread „What are you doing this Christmas and new year?“

Quote from Rice

... or you could mention that Merkel’s “empty chairs” point applies to ALL gatherings, not just birthday parties.

Thanksgiving Day in the US rivals Christmas as the #1 family gathering holiday. Public health officials implored families not to celebrate together this ONE YEAR, but their pleas were largely ignored. That was 2 weeks ago today, and the undeniable surge in covid cases started showing up about 6 days ago.

serafina has it absolutely right. This decision rests firmly on the comparison of risk vs reward. No matter how small the risk or how wonderful the feast, it is hard to tell ourselves that getting 2 or more household units together is a good decision.

I would be perfectly content NOT to have to go somewhere else for Xmas eve and not just because of health concerns, although that should be the top priority, but clearly isn't to some.

As if just one year would make a diffrrence? But I can hear the refrain already..."It may be mum's last Christmas with us..." etc etc etc.

My thoughts exactly. However, now that we've got the birthday party debacle out the way, how to tackle Christmas and New Year?

I think we'll have to compromise as long as the SIL knows that we're only going if it's her, the hubby and two kids. Not forgetting her mother of course.

Quote from Splinter

It's not very clear, but from what I can gather, it's up to ten people at a social event but it doesn't specify whether family or not.

In the end, people should exercise their own common sense. For example, I already made my position clear about Christmas some months ago and I haven't changed my mind, i.e. just the immediate family at the in-law's house as we do every year, which is eight of us. The same group for New Year but at our house.

However, a family member has arranged a 15th birthday party (cancelled from April) at the same location just a week before Christmas to which they have invited over 20 people, plus caterers.

Frankly, I believe this is just irresponsible and the argument seems to be that 'it's in the open air'.

Well fine, but I won't be going and I'm advising the rest of my family not to either.

On the other hand, being Argentina, these things have a habit of turning into a drama, so I'll update this as time moves on.

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After I threw a rather large rock in the pool and watched the subsequent reverberations, they decided to cancel the birthday party which turned out to be for over 25 people plus caterers.

Much relief on our side.

That could be his new avatar.

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KitKat was launched in Japan back in 1973 when it was owned by Rowntree, with a production plant later built in the country in 1989. There have been over 300 flavour variants developed since then, including matcha tea, soy sauce and sake.

Quote from Rice

Splinter , could you please tell me the current Argentine restrictions for social distancing, masking, max size of private gatherings, etc?

It seems to me that people were very patient and remarkably compliant during the lockdown; but once that was lifted, many people decided it was ok to return to pre-COVID activities, in particular, large extended-family gatherings centered around celebrations and holidays. I first noticed this in October, when middle aged offspring felt it was suddenly fine to honor their mothers by potentially shedding virus on them.

And now, Christmas and New Years parties. And catching up on birthday and Sweet 15 parties missed during the lockdown.

According to Worldometer.com, the per capita Covid death rate in Argentina is even higher than in the USA - - higher, in fact, than any of the 130 highest-mortality countries in the world except Belgium, Peru, And Italy.

What am I missing?

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It's not very clear, but from what I can gather, it's up to ten people at a social event but it doesn't specify whether family or not.

In the end, people should exercise their own common sense. For example, I already made my position clear about Christmas some months ago and I haven't changed my mind, i.e. just the immediate family at the in-law's house as we do every year, which is eight of us. The same group for New Year but at our house.

However, a family member has arranged a 15th birthday party (cancelled from April) at the same location just a week before Christmas to which they have invited over 20 people, plus caterers.

Frankly, I believe this is just irresponsible and the argument seems to be that 'it's in the open air'.

Well fine, but I won't be going and I'm advising the rest of my family not to either.

On the other hand, being Argentina, these things have a habit of turning into a drama, so I'll update this as time moves on.

Quote from Rice

My husband, an only child who is not fond of big holiday gatherings, is thrilled that we can stay home without hurting feelings - - because who can be hurt that their relatives are doing what is asked, and not risking anyone’s life? He views this as a win-win!)

I'm with hubby on that one.

Will you be keeping it to small numbers and immediate family? Indoors or outdoors?

That indeed has been my plan all along, but a family member has other plans which I'll elaborate on a bit later.