How Do You Spend The Holidays - Family

[jemmouse]

Seeing how Halloween is over and now we are moving in the direction of Thanksgiving HOW DO YOU SPEND THE HOLIDAY? Is it important to you to be with family and extended family or is it all about your immediate family? Do you feel saddened if family goes away, do you think they should be together? I myself enjoy being surrounded by family and having a traditional day such as dinner, football games, children laughing, the cook running around saying how this is to much, typical day...YET I also have wondered how it would be to just sneak away and do something with just my immediate family like going away for the weekend or holiday....Would love to know from those who do their own thing how members of the extended family feel about that, if they get upset? I also would love to hear about how those who are only with immediate family spend there day? Also would love to hear about some traditions out there? I know my tradition that I have been doing since I was a little girl was I give each person at dinner a Christmas ornament to kick off the upcoming season and also symbolizes an achievment or extracurricular activity that person did, or even an ornament of a past travel destination....Love to hear yours???

 

[klacey1]

Sorry I can't be of any help. Thanksgiving is the one holiday of the year where my entire extended family (up to 60 people) get together. We disperse at Christmas-- people go to IL's, or on vacation, etc. It is a wonderful, full, rich, happy day. I have to say, if we all got together on Christmas, it would be different. However, I think it's important to have at least one holiday where everyone's all together! For us, it's Thanksgiving!
However, Thanksgiving does come every year. You could try going away with your little family and seeing how you feel-- if it makes you miserable to be away from the whole family OR if you feel delightfully stress free, that'll indicate to you how you'll want to spend future holidays!

 

[Glynis]

We alternate between a big Thanksgiving with extended family one year, and a small one with just my hubby and kids the next year. It works well for us.

One thing we do every year with extended family, friends, neighbors, etc., is have Pie Night. Years ago, we realized that we are all so stuffed on Thanksgiving, that no one eats the yummy pies. So, we gather together the night before Thanksgiving, and everyone brings at least one pie (but most families bring 2 or 3), we cut them in small slices, and everyone samples pie. It has become the best tradition for Thanksgiving!

The day after Thanksgiving, we bring out the Christmas tree, and let the kids decorate it. I let the ornaments stay wherever the kids put them, and not rearrange them to suit myself. It took me years to be able to do that!

I like your tradition of doing the ornaments! We do that on Christmas Eve, along with a new set of P.J.'s.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

We went away for Thanksgiving for the very first time in 2007. It was our best ever vacation and it was to WDW Don't know if we'll ever go away on a holiday again, haven't discussed that with DH but I would vote yes. We normally spend all of our holidays with my inlaws since my folks live far way in Florida.

 

[Pakey]

We are not big on holidays. We rarely get together with our grown children or our own extended families all at one time.

If my husband wants to do anything with his family; he's goes by himself. I do the same with my family. We don't bother with Thanksgiving at all but we do try to get together with our grown children/families somewhere around Christmas. It's not usually on Christmas day though. It's become a Christmas morning tradition to go to the movies (my husband, myself and our youngest unmarried son).

This year my husband and I will be flying home from Egypt on Thanksgiving. We haven't even discussed Christmas yet.

 

[minniecarousel]

All but one of my siblings lives here in the Bay Area. I am centrally located and have the largest house, so they ALL come here for Thanksgiving, Christmas & Easter. Everyone has a particular dish to bring on Thanksgiving. My younger son goes to his father-in-law's, so we never see them on Thanksgiving anymore. Older son's in-laws are within 2 miles of us, so they just eat double on T'giving!

My Mom passed away a few days before Easter, so we have all these "firsts" to get through. I believe that my sibs will continue to want to get together for holidays. My husband and I want to downsize, but I think we'll still have a big enough house to host these holidays.

I couldn't imagine being anywhere but home for holidays (although I could see us at one of our son's or a brother or sister's house.)

 

[pigletgirl]

This year is going to be interesting. Ryan and I are now engaged so we're not quite sure how thanksgiving will work out.

I know for a fact on christmas that in his family christmas eve is the big celebration so I will be there for the day and they are low key on christmas, where as my family is the opposite. Christmas is huge and christmas eve is very quiet.

I'm guess we will both be eating twice on thanksgiving. This holiday stuff gets so complicated now. I have no idea what it'll be like when we have our own family.

 

[Feralpeg]

We have a very small family, so our holidays are not usually involved. One brother lives on the opposite coast. My other brother lives in the Midwest. I lost both parents when I was in my early twenties. My sister lives nearby, but she works for Disney. That means she ends up working every holiday.

So, it is always just DD and I. This year for Thanksgiving, we will be dining at Portobello at DTD. No sense in cooking for just the two of us. Then, we'll most likely catch a movie. On Christmas Eve, we'll be eating at Chef de France at Epcot. On Christmas Day, we'll probably go to the movies and eat wherever we can find a place open.

 

[minkydog]

We live 400 miles from the nearest extended family so we don't get to be there for most of the birthdays or holiday celebrations. Oh, we used to drive down there, carrying all the gifts and Santa, hopping from in-laws to in-laws, making sure everyone got exactly the same amount of time with us. Exhausting. The year our oldst turned 5 was the final straw. He was crying by mid-afternoon, having been jerked hither and yon for the sake of the adults(who should have known better!)

So, we changed the rules...No more traveling on holidays. There is an open invitation for our families to visit us, but unfortunately I-85 only runs south, it seems. About every 3-4 years we'll take the camper down to Florida to visit at Thanksgiving, but forget going at Christmas. Ain't happenin'

And my kids are FINE with that. They're all grown now(17 & 24) so it's pretty important for them to see their friends at the holidays. They love having the big Thanksgiving dinner and decorating the Christmas tree. We don't watch football(unless I can convince DH to turn on the Alabama/Auburn game--roll Tide!) so we watch movies while the kids and their friends pop in and out. I never know how many are going to be at the table. Could be 5, could be 15. I know when they show up.

 

[ilovejack02]

I let my entire family know as soon as DH and I got engaged that I was not going to ever spend my holidays running back and forth between families. : ) I am an only child and my DH only has one brother who at the time was far away at college rarely coming home.

I let them know that we were soon to be one big happy family and they better find a way to love each other , because I expected us to spend holidays all together.

Thank goodness it worked, we all spend the holidays together usually at my house,now that I have a little one, I pretty much refuse to leave the house on xmas. Before that I would go to my mom's or my MIL's and they always invited each other .

Thanksgiving is eating, men watch football and the ladies head out to what ever big box store is open to see what is new in holiday decorations lol.

 

[TimeforMe]

Yes, our holidays are always spent with extended family; most of them with my side of the family. Thanksgiving, however, is the one holiday we spend with Dh's family and it is at his niece's house. She lives in the same town as we do so it's nice to not have to travel. It'll be one (out of 3) of Dh's sister, his niece and her extended family from her husband's side and his nephew and wife. It's usually well over 30 people. Thank God she has a huge house.

Christmas Eve is at my house with about 25 of us and Christmas Day at my niece's which tends to be more low-key as we're all exhausted from Christmas Eve. FTR, Easter is again my family but we go out for brunch.

I love the holidays and am very traditional in that sense. Certain foods HAVE to be served, rituals kept, etc. Can't wait.

 

[jemmouse]

I let my entire family know as soon as DH and I got engaged that I was not going to ever spend my holidays running back and forth between families. : ) I am an only child and my DH only has one brother who at the time was far away at college rarely coming home.

I let them know that we were soon to be one big happy family and they better find a way to love each other , because I expected us to spend holidays all together.

Thank goodness it worked, we all spend the holidays together usually at my house,now that I have a little one, I pretty much refuse to leave the house on xmas. Before that I would go to my mom's or my MIL's and they always invited each other .

Thanksgiving is eating, men watch football and the ladies head out to what ever big box store is open to see what is new in holiday decorations lol.

LOve this idea of blending both the families!!!!! It is so hard to see both sides and then really spend quality time, without thinking about is it time to leave....Good for you that it works out, I have several friends that have tried this and weren't so lucky. I always have Christmas Eve and blend both families which is quite easy for me because on my side its just mom and brother and uncle and aunt compared to the 30 of my DH's side. I even ask my SIL to ask her dad who is single and divorced. My feeling is noone should be alone on a holiday......

So many great responses. I also do the annual Christmas PJ's even get DH to wear them, the things he'll do for our son. Usually on Christmas Day we stay home and heat up leftovers and just stay in our PJ's all day, LOVE IT!!!! One thing is for certain it seems like love is definately in the air for holidays and truly enjoying family!!!!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

This year we will be meeting my grandparents in Disney for Thanksgiving and then, if DH can get the weekend off (big IF,) we will be headed to their house for Christmas. We go to Disney every other Thanksgiving. If we could afford it we'd do it every year. It helps to put me in the Christmas spirit. While I love Christmas, it also is a time of year that makes me feel sad. We have virtually no family outside the one DH and I made ourselves. I am an only who was left as an infant by my parents. Never knew my dad and I'm my mom's biggest regret. We haven't spoken in months despite me trying multiple times to. I have my grandparents who raised me and my grat grandma, they all live about 8 hours away. My DH's brother passed away when I was pregnant with our DD16. He has a half sister who isn't really interested in being part of our family. The kids have no cousins, aunts, uncles etc. The holidays always seem like such wonderful family times so it is hard sometimes to have something you feel is so important be missing from your life. Having said that, DH and I are blessed with 3 great kids and I very much enjoy holiday traditions with them, like baking piles of Christmas cookies and doing Secret Santas and many other amazing parts of the season, and I am excited that it is upon us. Something amazing happens this time of year. The kids seem to argue less and we seem to make time for more traditional activities, I love it!

 

[AKL_Megs]

My husband gets every OTHER Thanksgiving off, usually.

On the years that he IS off, we always head to my parents house for an early Thanksgiving "lunch" that ends around 5pm, and then we head, usually, to my husbands grandmother's house, where his family gathers, for a late Thanksgiving "dinner" and games.

On the years that he WORKS, we don't do much of anything on Thanksgiving, but we ARE starting a new Thanksgiving EVE tradition... we will order a big pizza and breadsticks, get wine and beer, a tasty snack, and sit and eat around the coffee table while we watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! I'm so excited to do it this year!!!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We always have Thanksgiving at our house because we cook better than either of our parents or my wife's sister. Sometimes we get as many as 10 people over (plus our family). Sometimes 1 or 2.

 

[tinkerfan1]

We are the part of the family who leaves others behind. We've done so the past couple of years by going to Disney World. My parents sort of started the tradition in 2000 on their 50th wedding anniversary by taking all of their children and grandchildren to Disney World. Now, every year since that time that we could afford it, we go, too. And, now, we are DVC members, so it just costs us points... Anyway, we live in the same town with my folks, so this past year, my brother and neice came up and took care of Thanksgiving with my parents. They never said anything about being upset with us not being here and we did call. The year before, we made a Thanksgiving meal the day before and brought it over to their house. This year, we are actually going to leave the day after Thanksgiving, so maybe that will be a little nicer for them. My brothers do not plan on flying up. They live 12 hours away by car. Christmas is the day we spend the whole day together, eating, talking, and just enjoying the day.

 

[rie'smom]

Thanksgiving, my daughter and I go to WDW because my husband works and my sons go hunting.
Christmas Eve is spent with my husband's family.
Christmas Day we host my family.

 

[disneycruising]

When we were first married almost 20 years ago. We lived close to my inlaws and my parents were only a couple of hours away. So we would celebrate ALL the holidays with both sides of the family.

DH and I move over 500 miles away a few years later. We would go 'home' for 4th of July and Christmas. We would spend Christmas Eve with my inlaws and then drive to my parents house (2 hours) so we could be there for Christmas morning.

A few years ago my inlaws & brother inlaw moved to AZ. They suggested we trade each year--1 year at their house & then the next at ours. This was fine with us. We could still do Christmas at my parents house.

My kids are now 17, 15, 13 & 10 and we are still driving to my parents for Christmas. My oldest will graduate from High School next year & I am feeling that 'we don't have a family tradition' of our own.

 

[twinmomplus2new]

I cooked for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. This year On Thanksgiving we are taking our own to kids to a Cinema pub for a kid friendly dinner and to See the New Harry Potter movie.

I will however cook the Sunday before Christmas, Order chinese food on Christmas day, and then On to Easter when I will cook again.

 

[barkley]

when we first married we lived localy to most of our family. we would try to hit both thanksgivings (but we liked t-day food so we would also cook a small version for leftovers at home), and christmas eve was at my mom's/christmas day at dh's parents (his side had the only little kids in the family). one year we heard one of his young nephews asking how come santa never came to their house (tradition was that his bro/sil would take the kids to each grandparent's on christmas morning and santa had left gifts there for them)-it turned on a light bulb in our heads and we decided when we had kids they would always spend christmas day in their own home.

so...a few years later since dd was only a few months old and we did'nt want to have to take her out in the cold we started hosting thanksgiving at our house for whoever wanted to come. my family still did christmas eve but it was always at our home, and anyone who wanted to come over on christmas day could. when our kids got a bit older we accepted christmas dinner invites a couple of times.


now we live far away from any family so we are making our own traditions with some of the old ones still in place. for christmas eve it's always french dip sandwiches because when i was growing up with older sibs who had to travel to get home mom found it was the easiest thing to cook that was ready and waiting as people arrived all hours of the evening. for christmas day it's honey baked ham because-well, heck it's easy to deal with AND dh and i love eggs benedict so it's our tradition to crack the package open after the kids open their gifts christmas morning.


shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-the kids don't know yet, but we're trying something new this thanksgiving. instead of doing the big meal at home and power eating for several days (with me trying to convince dh to get the tree put up and the kids complaining of boredom) we've made reservations at a ski resort that has condo type rooms with full kitchens. but get this-NONE OF US SKI, however-this place has a 50,000 square foot indoor waterpark thats only open to guests of the resort, and a snow tubing run. we are heading up tuesday evening with all the fixins for the same meal i would have cooked at home, the kiddos can do the water park and play in the snow while i cook. dh and i can do the same but also sit in front of the fireplace and chill. we'll just pack up the leftovers in some coolers and head home on saturday (where dh knows the christmas stuff will be sitting staring at him waiting to get put up on sunday).


if this works out we may do a similar short get away christmas week-but just for a couple of nights (the kids drive me nuts the week before christmas just like i did my parents so i'm thinking maybe we can time it to get away on the 22nd and 23rd so we roll back in christmas eve).