I still haven’t booked my Christmas sit this year (although I have several lined up for th new year).
If you are in the same position, what’s your plan? Check the listings frequently? Take it easy because you know there are always plenty of sits available (in s.England)?
I’m doing both. Christmas is lonely and unexceptional time for me, so perhaps that’s why I’m in no hurry to get organised?
@Rhe, sorry to hear unexceptional time of year. Hope that you secure a super housesit with appreciative PP and enjoyable pets that bring you joy.
We confirmed Christmas housesit perhaps a month ago. Central London. Last two Christmases have completed lovely housesits in Pacific North West so big change for us - guess less snow this year 
. We patiently monitored listings for a while, and gradually evolved our housesit preferences as we pondered listings. We learn! We were keen to find a good fit. Took time.
Fingers crossed that you secure something that makes you, Pet Parent and pet smile.
We don’t have a strong sense of the quantity of Christmas listings in different countries/areas.
Not quite sure why you are asking this question . There are plenty of Christmas sits available so get searching
I’m a homeowner who sometimes sits. I don’t like to travel over Christmas. To begin with, I enjoy Christmas in my home town and the way we traditionally celebrate. . But I have noticed there are so many sits. It’s absolutely a sitter’s market. This makes me less likely to go away as getting a sitter might be tough. I also don’t want to look for a sit because the one year I tried it thinking: “Now I’ll get a London sit. No problem!” I also realized that I’d be paying about 3 times as much for airfare, so it made no sense at all! So I guess that means I’m leaving it till…. never.
Maybe there’ll be an HO reading this who now wants to snap you up in an exceptional place with extra ordinary pets 
A host with such a listing won’t need to look for sitters let alone snap them up, they’ll get a qualified sitter within an hour of posting their sit.
Unless it’s for Christmas dates when most experience sitters have been booked up months ago .
We accepted a repeat sit for the holiday period it was offered to us 7 months ago . Since then we’ve had 6 other THS requests and several requests for paid sits for this same period .
The reason I said
“Maybe there’ll be an HO reading this who now wants to snap you up in an exceptional place with extra ordinary pets ,”
Is because @Rhe is a regular on the forum with a fantastic profile with a HUGE number of 5 star reviews. Some HO’s on the forum may click their profile link off the back of their post here if they are CONSIDERING seeing their family at Christmas but haven’t made arrangements as yet.
There’s plenty of those HO’s still around who are still figuring out their dates, who would love to have @Rhe in particular sitting for them, and there’s plenty of exceptional places with extra ordinary pets that don’t always get loads of applicants, for example if they are slightly more remote and so away from public transport.
That sounds like a real long shot, even a longer shot than a host reaching out to potential sitters to invite them for a sit.
It’s probably fair to say that of the pool of hosts on THS, only a small percentage read and post on the forum, and only a very small number of them would be looking for a sitter at that particular time, and in a location that a particular sitter would want to sit, and an even smaller number of those will come across this particular thread, read the reply by that sitter, and know to click the link in the profile to view the listing and reach out to them.
I’d wager a guess that the odds of securing a sit in this way are astronomically small.
Great topic @Rhe - I enjoy reading about how everyone tackles the festive season - it’s such a unique time of year for everyone!
I hope whatever you do, it’s a lovely, restful time.
Your positivity is so very welcome @HappyDeb. I enjoy your posts.
Happy by name, happy by nature, is our @HappyDeb 
I asking to stimulate a bit of conversation, to see what other sitters are up to, how they make plans. Isn’t that the point of a forum?
Thank you for the kind words, Deb - they are much appreciated.
I’m not worried about getting a sit at all, I’m just interested to see whether I am the only one leaving my Christmas sit planning so late!
awwwww thanks 
@Rhe we confirmed our Christmas sit a little under a month ago. Maybe a few weeks earlier than we have confirmed other years. We spent a while waiting for the right opportunity to appear as we have a few additional criteria for Christmas sits:-
This year we are sitting in Bristol in an area we know and like
I can’t imagine there’s a host on the THS platform that wouldn’t allow a sitter’s elderly mother to spend Christmas day with them.
If there was, to me that would be grounds for immediate account termination.
I like to plan ahead, I confirmed my Christmas sit in March. However, I see lots of fantastic looking sits posted for Christmas, those of you who have waited have some great choices.
I don’t sit during Christmas, but if I did, based on listings I’ve seen during past Christmas seasons and the fact that sits are increasingly outnumbering sitters, I’d wait. Like last Christmas season, a number of sits in even popular locations weren’t getting snapped up.
Of course, if you wait, you might not end up seeing and getting your ideal sit anyway. But that might not matter to you or some other sitters, if sitting is just icing, because many of us have options other than sitting.
I don’t sit during year-end holidays like U.S. Thanksgiving or Christmas, but a couple of years ago, a Scotland sit popped up pretty late between the holidays and worked out terrifically for me and the host (and their adorably sweet dog). For me, the sit was magical and I’ve been invited back twice, though unfortunately I was busy. I mention that, because sometimes timing is just random luck.
