Comments on: Holiday! Celebrate!

By: elizabeth

elizabeth — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:58:13 +0000

one of the best decisions that the hubs and i have made is to spend thanksgiving and christmas doing something we love together. this was made a lot easier when we moved away from our families to chicago, but it really is awesome. some years we travel (we have been to hawaii, ghana, los angeles, etc over christmas) but most years we just hang out at home and enjoy the restful time we have together.

new years however, is always spent with our best friends – we’ve been doing that for 8 years now and it is a tradition that i look forward to each year!

By: Samma

Samma — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:00:06 +0000

I am having such a tough time with this! My family alternates between huge Thanksgivings with all my extended fam, and quiet relaxation Thanksgivings with just the nuclear crew at our beachhouse in Watercolor. My husband has to work on Friday, so that kind of ruins our plans of the beach. :( His family has the holiday with his sister’s in-laws, and he hates it, so that’s out.

Our plan is to have Christmas with his family, but I am already getting upset about missing the x-mas eve ceremonry at my church. I know I am being selfish, but I hate change!! What to do?

By: Allison

Allison — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:39:49 +0000

We’d always imagined we’d split up the holidays and alternate. This Thanksgiving with his family and this Christmas in Indiana with my family. Then next year, we’ll switch. However, the Air Force doesn’t always make this easy: Nick actually works this Christmas because of his new plane. So I’m going to be home alone around Christmas, but we haven’t decided where I’ll actually spend Christmas day. I don’t want to leave Nick alone when he isn’t at work, but I don’t want to spend the day sobbing while he’s at work. :)

Good luck with the holiday plans! I get excited about having children, because I know we won’t have to travel as much. Our family will hopefully come to us.
.-= Allison’s most recent blog post: Our Fabulous Winter Wedding: Primping and Prepping =-.

By: Disgruntled Julie

Disgruntled Julie — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:41:53 +0000

My mother has always believed in the same concept as your grandmother — who cares when you celebrate the holiday, as long as you celebrate. My aunt and uncle spent 10-11 months out of the year in Europe (he is an opera singer, so he performs throughout the world), so we have done Thanksgiving in January, a summer 4th of July type picnic in March, etc. As long as we are together, it doesn’t matter if it’s on the actual day.

Things have gotten much more complicated now that my husband is a resident, though, because he can’t take time off from the hospital. This year, he gets one day off for Thanksgiving. In the past, we’ve done Thanksgiving with his family, and then a few weeks later done it with mine. But he no longer can take time off a few weeks later — so we can only see one family. And I can’t take time off at all over Hanukkah because of my research. Plus, there is the fact that we are in a long-distance marriage which also adds to the stress; honestly, I’d just rather see him alone, but of course my family wants to see me, and his family wants to see me too (he lives in the same city as his family and see them on practically a daily basis).
.-= Disgruntled Julie’s most recent blog post: Harumph =-.

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:42:18 +0000

I definitely think that you’re on the right track. When we first got married, and then the first year after we had our baby, we alternated holidays – with no exception. It was SO HARD to let down my family when it was my in-laws “holiday” and visa versa, but in order to make it fair and keep things sane, that’s what we had to do. Now that we aren’t even near the state that both of our parents are in, we plan to stick close to our home for the holidays, and if family wants to visit us, then we will be waiting with bells on! Our little girl is turning 2 in November, so this will be her third Christmas; she’s getting to the age of awareness of the meaning of Christmas (and of course, St. Nick) so we want to enjoy that as a family, too. I agree that it is difficult to compromise because it’s a blending of traditions, etc.; but, starting this year, we’re making our own, new traditions and we can’t wait to celebrate! Great post; and – wow! – The holidays are really sneaking up on me!