urgh, it irritates me when people do that in reefernce to their family in Christmas cards! "happy Christmas from the Jefferson's x" or whatever. the jefferson is WHAT?!
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Reefernce 
Psst...proper nouns require a capital letter x
Psst...proper nouns require a capital letter x
Super Nanny was fab at terrible grammar. Remember "asseptable"? 
There was that really difficult girl yelling at her "It's ACCEPTABLE not asseptable"
There was that really difficult girl yelling at her "It's ACCEPTABLE not asseptable"that is UNASSEPTABLE!Super Nanny was fab at terrible grammar. Remember "asseptable"?
Oh yes I forgot the UN ...doh. It was very funny that kid, hands on hips ..."It. Is. U-N-ACCEPT-ABLE not unasseptable!"that is UNASSEPTABLE!
Just seen on Mumsnet "I would be fewming" 
I wrote about it on Twitter years ago and Jo Frost replied to me. She must have searched her own name.Super Nanny was fab at terrible grammar. Remember "asseptable"?
Writing "women" when they mean a singular "woman". Goes right through me.
Do they mean the Hobson's house?
But it would be the Hobsons’ house. The house belonging to the Hobsons. If it was just one Hobson who resided there, it would be Hobson’s House.
It's exactly that it's a possessive apostrophe rather than an apostrophe to denote a missing letter
I disagree. If my surname was Smith. And your talking about my house, it's the Smith's house. I.e. the house belonging the the Smith's
If you said "the Smiths house" that would be grammatically incorrect.
Therefore "Christmas at the Smith's" is grammatical correct.
If you lived alone in the house, nobody would say the Smith's house. They would say Jane Smith's house.
If you lived with multiple other Smiths, then it would be the Smiths' house, with the apostrophe after the s to denote possession in plural.
the house belonging to the Smith family - as a group - would be referred to as the Smiths' house - the hours belonging to the Smith family, thus the Smiths and the use of a possive apostrophe. the house is possessed by/belongs to the Smiths, plural. if you were the only member of the Smith family, people generally wouldn't refer to you as "the Smith" in the way they would use "the Smiths" to refer to a couple or family - they would say "Mrs Smith's house" or "Lucy Smith's house".
yes, "the Smith house" would be incorrect, because it does need an apostrophe - but the house belongs to the Smiths, plural - not the Smith - thus the apostrophe is at the end of Smiths - Smiths' not Smith's. "the Smith's house is grammatically incorrect. the house belongs to the Smith family, not" the Smith".
people would refer to your house as "Smith's house" if your first name was Smith.
It would only be the Smith’s house if the Smith were a person - as in the Blacksmith. The Smiths are the Smith family, so their house is the Smiths’.
Ahem. First of all your should be you're (you are). You are incorrect with the rest. The apostrophe between Smith and s indicates the word IS, ie something that Mr Smith or his family would be doing. Where are say "Christmas at the Smith's" would therefore read "Christmas with the Smith is" which doesn't make any sense.
Smith isn't a word anymorethe house belonging to the Smith family - as a group - would be referred to as the Smiths' house - the hours belonging to the Smith family, thus the Smiths and the use of a possive apostrophe. the house is possessed by/belongs to the Smiths, plural. if you were the only member of the Smith family, people generally wouldn't refer to you as "the Smith" in the way they would use "the Smiths" to refer to a couple or family - they would say "Mrs Smith's house" or "Lucy Smith's house".
yes, "the Smith house" would be incorrect, because it does need an apostrophe - but the house belongs to the Smiths, plural - not the Smith - thus the apostrophe is at the end of Smiths - Smiths' not Smith's. "the Smith's house is grammatically incorrect. the house belongs to the Smith family, not" the Smith".
people would refer to your house as "Smith's house" if your first name was Smith.
This explanation is also incorrect. Smith's is not necessarily a contraction of Smith is; it can also be a contraction of Smith has or it can indicate the Saxon genitive, aka the possessive apostrophe. It's pretty clear that the poster was using it for the latter, and got the placement of the apostrophe wrong.
The verb to be is also used for far more than "something that Mr Smith or his family would be doing", but that's neither here nor there.
My pet peeve is this trend of joining words together eg eachother, abit, ofcourse.
Also using breath instead of breathe eg ‘I am struggling to breath‘
And I’m sure @AliceInWanderLost will join me with this one - Tattle should have an eye role emoji but there are non
Also using breath instead of breathe eg ‘I am struggling to breath‘
And I’m sure @AliceInWanderLost will join me with this one - Tattle should have an eye role emoji but there are non