Holiday Spirit
"I refuse to partake in this religious activity. I'm a wizard. I do not celebrate Christian holidays."
Hermione thought she could imagine him stomping his foot and pouting like a 3 years old.
"As long as there are gifts and expensive clothing to use I don't care which holiday you're celebrating. It can be Hanukah, Kwanza, the Winter Solstice or the Saturnalia for all I care. The real meaning of the holiday is buying great gifts for your spouse, and suffering the bloody in-laws as everyone else."
She was going to say that she'll force him to go to her mother's even if she had to stupefy him first when the metaphorical light bulb switched on.
"Well, if it's so much of a bother to leave the manor, you can always invite my family over here. They won't mind coming to Wiltshire if you let them stay the night. And if you really hate my mother's cooking..." and she saw the tiniest flicker in his face, "yes, I thought that much," she grumble, "then you can ask the house-elves to cook".
He had to admit that his wife could be convincing.
More so when after all that talking she threatened him with sleeping in the couch until next year. He really thought it was a stupid threat considering the house had so many spare rooms. What he didn't realised was that his darling wife could lock them with a ward he couldn't take down. So after waking up feeling poorly (it wasn't past Hermione to charm the couch to be uncomfortable), he conceded the point. He'll invite the in-laws. He'll be polite to them, even if they were muggle. And he won't complain about them stomping his Persian rugs. The cleaning and tending of so many people will be his gift to the house elves... Hermione did say something about doing something good for them after all.