How are you celebrating the holiday season?

The holidays are upon us... what are you doing to celebrate this year, and what are your plans to keep this time of year as low-stress as possible?

8 Comments

Cornflake Girl

The holidays are sometimes hard for us. With 3 families to deal with things can get very crazy. We try to spend Thanksgiving traveling around to see everyone. Then on Christmas we spend it at home. It was so hard to travel with the kids because they always wanted to play with their toys. So about 5 year ago we started having it at our house. Anyone that wants to see us on that day can come over. We have an open door policy. It is great and makes for a wonderful day.

Mon, 2008-11-24 05:10

bwankel

This year, we're staying home and celebrating with our "urban family". We flew to family in September, and we'll fly again in the Spring. But I will not likely fly during the holidays again. We did last year and it was a pain in the a**, and we didn't even have our baby then! My family will be ticked, but I hope eventually they'll realize they wouldn't do it either, so why should they expect us to?

Mon, 2008-11-24 10:57

Molly

Christmas as my family has known it for the last 40 years is over, and it's pretty much all my fault. For the first time ever, my parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and I (along with my husband and kids) will not be together on Christmas Eve. This is because I now have a 3-year-old son who actually understands the whole Santa Claus thing, so we will be staying home on Christmas Eve and not traveling the 3 hours to my parents' house. Instead we will all congregate the Saturday after Christmas to celebrate. Everyone says they're ok with this (they all live within a half hour of each other), but I feel a tad bit guilty for ruining a 40-year tradition. Seriously, I know, how dare I get married, have children and live 3 hours away?! This will be less stress for us, as long as I can get over the guilt.

We're shaking things up on my husband's side, too. We're celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving because my sister-in-law lives 10 hours away and doesn't want to travel over Christmas with her husband and two toddlers. I don't blame her a bit, but the early Christmas celebration has completely ticked off my mother-in-law. To the point where she at first refused to participate. She has since sort of come on board with idea so hopefully it goes smoothly...

Mon, 2008-11-24 15:14

conversationswi...

We celebrate Christmas the same way almost every year.
When I was a kid, we used to go to Church on the 24th, then after Christmas, we spent the day at my Grandmother's where the whole family got together. We started opening gifts at midnight. It was fun because I have a lot of cousins.

As we got older, and most of us got married, the 24th was a day that we spent at my parents house with my 5 siblings. It's still a lot of fun because between all of us, we have 8 kids ranging from 8 years old to 1 month old. On the 25th, we spend the day with my husband's Mom and his 3 brother. My mother in law does more of a traditional Christmas (like Thanksgiving) where she makes this wonderful turkey.

The 24th was a non-negotiable for me. I made sure that when I got married, this day with my Parents and siblings was not taken away from me.

Wed, 2008-12-10 14:57

cozyrich

This year we will probably feed the homeless, then go home and relax. Our children will be with their biological mom for xmas and they have already donated toys and this week we will donate blankets for those without a home. We will only give this year.

Sat, 2008-12-13 22:13

ImOkMommy

We have been forced to cut back this year. It is somewhat depressing to know that I cannot give my children all that they want because of job cutbacks. However, we have come up with some innovative things to help out. I just refurbished a broken IPOD. I know that my teenager will love it when she opens it up on Christmas morning. My youngest is still playing with dolls so we did not have to cut back too much for her, but she still cannot get the drum set that she wants.

We are still alive and blessed in many other ways so... This is my wish to all mothers and their families---MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wed, 2008-12-17 20:47

gretathebartender

How can anyone be stress free around the holidays? give me a break, stress free? i'm not complaining here but, our holiday season has always been stressful and i believe that anyone with children and married or separated or single has as much or more stress. Here's a breakdown of our "happy season."

every year my husband and i try to host thanksgiving. this is simply because we live away from all of both of our families and it cuts down on stress (by almost 10%...huge, i know) so, we invite anywhere from 20 to30 people to our house. i cook the entire dinner and ask my husband to clean the entire (viewable) house. I ask that whomever I invite to bring either a appetizer or a dessert. we end up spending $200 on booze and $3 to $5 on food. this is not a problem because i love to cook and entertain ( i am a bartender after all...) and we would end up spending more on travel. also, i believe that if you invite someone to share the holidays you should show them you apprieciate them. we save on the travel expenses and "living" at someone's house for the holidays but loose on the work involved.

in saying this i would let anyone know that the hosting of any holiday should be appreiciated by anyone. if you don't host 'em, apprieciate 'em...even if it is your mother in law's party!

saying that, i will say that christmas is, both great and terrible. both of us come from divorced households. we have, at minimum, 4 christmas parties and that's just mom, dad, mom, dad. we also have a nana's (grandmother) party each year in addition, my best friend has a party and his best friend has a party. we host a party for our friends and both of us have christmas parties for work. as well, my husband has to deal with his annual sales meeting for work in december....if that is not enough i am going back to school and have finals during december and i work in a bar...the best place to let some stress go during the holiday season (for everyone else)

god (who is i have questions about) bless us! and everyone else out there. the only reason i keep on doing what i'm doing is because i truly believe; that after all the commercial bullshit (and it really is bullshit) what the season is really about is giving...and, after all i don't want to be the only 80 year old in the old folks home to have no one coming to bail my ass out for the holidays...pay it foreward, you know (so cheesey)

Thu, 2008-12-18 20:44

christine

It looks like you're thick "in the weeds" this year already! :)

The holidays are definitely stressful, but I think the traffic/shopping is the worst. Then again, I live in Los Angeles, so traffic is ALWAYS the worst.

That said, I decided that if I manage my expectations, I will be less stressed. For example, I *knew* traffic today was going to be a bear. So when I hit major traffic, I just let it ride (erm, so to speak).

Of course, managing expectations is easier said than done, but I think it helps to remember that the holidays are supposed to be fun. Feel free to use that as a mantra when you feel like strangling someone. ;)

Fri, 2008-12-19 01:06