Holiday Traditions

A day late and maybe a dollar short but I’m here!

I love Christmas. I don’t want to be cliché but I think it really is my favorite holiday/season.

1 / / Decorations I just love love love looking at Christmas decorations. I will go out of my way on the way home from work at night so that I can see different houses decorated. I’m a light lover. I can appreciate the blow up decorations but a house with really nicely done lights are my favorite. If they have music that go with the lights it’s even better. My husbands’ parents do a HUGE get up with blow up decorations.

There is a neighborhood nearby that has beautiful houses that go all out with decorations and you can do a nice car tour through it during the season. Usually a funnel cake truck shows up and you can enjoy one of those while you take a break from the lights. They also tend to have people selling hats and other light up toys/Christmas items. I plan on going this weekend with the kids  and I’ll take lots of pictures!

2 / / Family I wrote in the past about the problems I foresaw for Christmas this year. For 10 years I spent Christmas at my sisters’ house. She did a fancy 10 or so course dinner on Christmas Eve (we celebrate Christmas Eve), we all dressed up fancy, and had a delicious dinner before chatting around a fire and the tree and opening a present or two from my sisters’ best friend who also spent the evening with us.  Then I got my current job and I don’t have seniority to take the time off. Oh, and I also got married.

Somehow I married the only white man who celebrates Christmas Eve. Somehow I was able to get my parents and brother with his family to agree to come to my in-law’s house for Christmas Eve. I still miss spending Christmas at my sisters’ house, but I know it will be a nice time to be surrounded by so many people that night. There will be a big and long game of White Elephant.

Next year I’ll get to go to my sisters’ house since Christmas is a Friday and I’ll have the day off. I’m going to try to get the 24^th off as well (putting in my request on 1/2/15!).

3 / / Traditions Now that I’m married we are starting our own traditions. Well, really I am starting traditions (since Thomas is not too interested in that type of thing). The first is to go to a tree farm the weekend after Thanksgiving to pick out a nice tree and then decorate it. I’m also starting a tradition of having new pajamas on Christmas eve (I bought some this year, but they aren’t really Christmas-ey).  I also have the tradition of going to look at Christmas lights, as I mentioned above. I will also be getting a new ornament for any events that happen in the year (this year I have a new house ornament and a wedding ornament and I need to get a doggy one, too!).  I didn’t really have set traditions growing up, and it’s something I want my kids to have – something they can look forward to every year.

4 / / Music! I LOVE Christmas Music. I get so excited when the local station starts playing it round the clock. I love that they keep playing it a couple of days after Christmas, too. I may not like ALL the songs or all the artists, but for the most part it is probably my favorite part of the season in general.

There are plenty of other things that I love about the season – I mean, I didn’t even talk about presents! But I’ll spare you my giddiness!

Splitting The Holidays

With Thanksgiving in a couple of days and Christmas getting here before we know it I’m starting to stress out about where we will be spending these days and how long we’ll be there.

Thomas’ family is very close and they spend a lot of time together, including the holidays of course. For Thanksgiving there is a big gathering at his parents’ house. People bring in food and everyone watches football while eating some delicious meals. There is always a big family picture.

This has worked out the past few years. My family was never big into having Thanksgiving – it was mostly me organizing a dinner with my family. We’d have some honey ham and assorted sides. For a while we did that and looked at the Black Friday ad’s and made a list of what we wanted to get. Then I started dating Thomas and I started spending the day with his family.

But this year I feel different. We’re married now, of course. But my sister is also not here this year. Even though she might not have participated in the holidays in the past years, I feel strange leaving my parents’ home alone that day. My brother will be doing a road trip through the week and into the following week, so it will be just them. While they are invited and welcome to come to Thomas’ parents’ house (and my dad did last year), they don’t really want to. My mom is not a social person and does not like being in social situations at all.

So I’m not sure what to do. I tried talking to Thomas about it the other night and he gets offended that I don’t want to spend time with his family. But it’s not about me not wanting to be with them, it’s about me wanting to be with my family. Most likely what will happen is that I will spend the afternoon with him and his family, and then go home and spend the evening with mine (possibly enjoying Thanksgiving dinner out at a restaurant).

Then there will Christmas. Typically I have spent Christmas with my sister and her family up in the bay area. But last year and this year I cannot go because I can’t get the time off from work. Last year I went to his parents’ house for Christmas Eve for food as well as a gift exchange with the whole crowd. Then on Christmas Day we went to his aunt’s house for a Christmas dinner.

As you can see they do a lot of celebrating and there isn’t much time left for my family. My feelings of not wanting to leave my parents alone for Christmas is the same as they are for Thanksgiving. Maybe even more so since my sister did celebrate the day with them. In our family we do Christmas Eve dinner, and really Christmas is just a day to hang out.

You can see my problem. Suggestions are welcome. I want to be fair to Thomas, but I want to spend time with my family too. My parents are older (my mom is 70 and my dad is 80) and not in the best of health. I want to take advantage of every Christmas I can with them. I’m also not requesting or requiring him to come spend it at my parents’ place. I can do it on my own and he can spend time with his family.

Next year will be another story all together. Christmas will be on a Friday and I want to go to my sisters’ house to spend it with her and my nieces again. Maybe even my parents and brothers’ family will make the trip. I know Thomas will not like the idea.

Once we have kids I know that I will want to have a nice Christmas Eve at home to exchange pajama presents and then watch a movie by the fire (did I mention we have a wood burning fire place?) before setting out some cookies and carrots.

My Traditions

I was definitely drawn to this topic.

I love traditions.

That being said I don’t know that our family has many of them. My parents were never big into traditions – everything was done whenever we wanted it done. Everyone made their own meals, no dinners at the table.

A tradition that did have to end was that I spent every Christmas at my sisters’ house. It started in 2000 or 2001 and continued until 2012. Beginning with last year it has become impossible for me to get Christmas Eve or the days after off of work, so I’m unable to make the trip north.

I would like to start traditions though. I am hoping to start a 4^th of July tradition of throwing a BBQ party at our place before heading out to catch some fireworks.

Thomas’ family has their own traditions for Christmas. They spend Christmas Eve at his parents place (with cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone there) and eat a pot luck before exchanging presents via a game. They also spend Christmas day at a different family members’ house.

While I love his traditions, we will have to learn to compromise and split them between both our families. In 2015 Christmas day falls on a Friday, which means that we could either fly up or drive up on Christmas Eve and spend the weekend with my sister and her family.

We will see if I can get him to agree to that.

However, I am sure that once we have children I will want to spend Christmas Eve’s close by and to be home early to open a present of new pajamas and then going to bed so that Santa can come and leave presents for the little ones.

What are your traditions? Or which ones would you like to have?