I'm going to my folks for xmas but I'm sure one of us can give you a decent excuse.

I'll happily send you an email claiming to be your old best pal whose wife has just left me, plus I've been told I've got a brain tumour and only a week to live.

I'll beg you to come visit me before I die and ask if you'll spend xmas by my hospital bedside, in Singapore.

That should give you the excuse, then you are free to run away to wherever.