Hi Jet,
sorry to hear what's happened and I do hope you can get it all back on track - sounds like you are and you both acted quickly to get this sorted and out in the open etc. Worst thing would have been to brush it under the carpet or whatever...
RE: Christmas. That's a nice plan. Yes change your routine a bit and don't get stressed about anything, after all it's just about being together and having a nice time. Nobody to pressure you into doing something that's not right for you this time. Then when you're more settled you can re-create your adapted family version of Christmas in the way that Jo so nicely described. I think we / my parents are too, my dad is now the keen baker baking my gran's Christmas biscuits that have become standard part of our Christmas at my Gran's / Parent's house in Germany. My gran used to bake till the nearly very end. I think the last year she 'supervised' my dad making them! And now they've taken the time to actually write down those recipes and give copies to me and my sister too.
Now I should add that I have not been back in Germany since the 04/05 Christmas when DD1 was tiny, now with the kids we officially don't travel at Christmas so people are welcome here though and my parents-in-law (I get on great with them) seem to manage to come on a regular basis. So we now have our own version of mixed-up British and German Christmas traditions here.