Rhonda

I am thinking about getting ready for Thanksgiving as I have my daughter and her family here. And my youngest son and his family come here for Thanksgiving. Nathan and his family have Thanksgiving with my youngest BIL and his family. My DH's mom lives with them so Nathan goes that way then.

Nathan usually has Christmas at his house and it is the only time of the year usually when we all get together. When I was growing up it was only my mom and dad and me. Now my dad is gone and we include my soninlaws parents so we are now 25 with my granddaughter's new baby who is due Oct 19. Our family has really grown!!!

I don't always put up a Christmas tree but I try to do some decorating. If I get everything out you wouldn't see the house for the decor!! LOL I collect alot of things that go with Christmas. Bells Angels 1950s flocked and other reindeer and some sleighs to name a few.

We use to exchange gifts but it got to be too much for everyone. Finances have been tight at times with Sara and Ben starting up the clinic and Nathan and Doug( my brother inlaw) starting their own business. So now I just give the grands money and let it go at that. I used to try to buy stuff they like but as they got older it got to be too difficult. This is just so much easier. I buy or make their favorite candy or chips and attach a money card to it and all are happy! Nicci loves Divinity so I try to make some for her every year.

So what are you traditions or holiday experiences or memories of long ago holidays? Anything you want to add of a holiday nature please do!! We would love to hear it! I will probably add some holiday memories along the way as well. So feel free to share your holiday stories!!

BellaBoo

I never made Thanksgiving a big deal at our house. I do cook a traditional Thanksgiving but we have it about 7 pm. As the kids got older I didn't put any expectations or guilt to where they should be at Thanksgiving meal, usually they wanted to go to relatives or boyfriend's home for the noon meal and here for the later meal. This has worked great when in laws came into the picture. Hubby, kids and I had Christmas morning at home. I told my family and my hubby's family after our first child was born, we would not be traveling away from home during Christmas, that wasn't fair for kids to be dragged all over creation. It was the best foot putting down decision I ever made. :D

littlehud

Thanksgiving has usually been a small gathering at my house. Our big holiday is Christmas. We used to spend it at my dads, but now have such a big extended family we rent a small church hall. We all gather and visit, than eat lots of pizza, homemade salads, and lot of treats. Than we open gifts, and after that is the best part of our family Christmas. We get out cases of silly string, Yes I said silly string, and when my dad says go we spray each other with it. It is loud and fun and we all get to act like kids. We love it. This was started by my brother 15 years ago and it is one of the high points of our Christmas.

Rhonda

My mom grew up with big big family dinners.She is one of 14 kids. So holidays were always all the kids and their families. You can imagine how big a crowd that would be. So as I was growing up we had big family holiday meals.

My mom until just about 5 yrs ago always set her long dining table that has pull up leaves on each side. She would set it with crystal goblets and dinner plates with napkin rings and all the dishes were traditional and served on platters and in glass dishes with water served in glass pitchers. We all sat and prayed and passed food to the left. Kids were seated at a kid's table.

When Mom didn't do it one year both of my boys(in their late 20's) were upset. They missed the tradition of sitting down to napkin rings and all the candles and center piece in the middle of the table. Nathan has Christmas now and they don't do the napkin rings but they do set a nice table with lots of traditional foods.

We actually quit having the dinners in my mom's house because the family outgrew the space!

Baren*eh*ked_canadian

Holidays are a bit complicated for us...

We have a family of four, my parents, my brother, and I. Not too complicated. Now, my brother's girlfriend pretty much gets to decide where they spend their time, and unfortunately, my mother always gets second choice. Like, they'll go for Christmas supper at her parents place, and my mother has to settle for lunch, or whatever... every holiday is like that, mother's day, easter.
I try to manage our time a bit more fair, because I know my mum feels hurt by this, and I totally understand why. Sasha's family is big, and they do big suppers on the given holiday. They can't really start catering to everyone schedule because that's really complicated! Sasha has a twin brother and an older brother, and they have two other step brothers. We figure, if you dont' make it, then you don't make it, that's it that's all.

I think we may have Thanksgiving this year at my parents' place, we did last year at my in-laws'.
Christmas is strange. Sashas's family celebrates Christmas eve, where they get all dressed up, go to 10pm mass, then come home, eat, drink (My MIL makes a huge assortment of hors d'oeuvres and stuff) and get semi-plastered (these are some pretty fun people) and then we all open gifts and turn up the music and party till 4am. We usually head out a little earlier and drive to my parents house about an hour or so away, and sleep there for the few hours of 'night' left. Then we get up and have Christmas morning with my family, where we open stockings and gifts and my parents make a HUGH brunch and sometimes a turkey lunch.
There is just WAY too much food in one day! Then we head back sometime in the afternoon to Sasha's parents place, and we help get ready for traditional Christmas supper.

Our parents are just going to have to get used to the fact that when we have our own family, we're going to have to really pick and choose what we want to do by ourselves, and which holidays we want to be hosts and guests. Right now, it's a lot of running around, and trying to be fair, and trying to keep one person's feeling from being hurt, in favor of another. Every-Single-TIME!!!!

We don't have our own kids yet, (we will next year, there's one with a timer on it right now) but this is the first time we live in a place that's big enough to decorate and get a tree for the holidays this year, and you can bet your butt that I'm buying a Christmas tree, even if it takes up the whole living room!


Ok, that was a long post, props if you actually read till the end, lol!

Rhonda

Baren*eh*ked_canadian We've been married for 35 years. When we first got married we did the same thing for several years. We would spend Christmas Eve with my parents and then drive the hour and a half to DHs parents for lunch on Christmas day. One year we stayed over night at my inlaws Christmas Eve and after opening presents( I packed all the kids' presents in the trunk of the car and took them up with us!) we then made a mad dash an hour and a half back to my mom and dad's for noon. So I know all about having to find a way to smooth the waters.

I have three kids. When Sara got married they came to us for all holidays as her inlaws had 5 kids and all of them went to inlaws on holidays leaving Betty and Cleo with noone. So we include them in all holidays making it easy for Sara and Ben to come to us. When Nathan got married his wife's family don't get together for Christmas and Thanksgiving they instead get together for Labor Day weekend and go to an amusement park instead. So that was not a problem. Then my youngest son got married and Angie's parents have big dinners and lots of family get togethers. So they have to do the one year with us and the next year with her family.

Nathan's wife gradually quit coming to any dinners. She would be sick or whatever and Nathan would come with the kids. Now they don't come at all. That is why they have Christmas dinner now and we go there. It is a compromise and it is always Christmas eve day not Christmas day. First Sara and then Nathan declared they were staying home on Christmas day so the kids didn't have to leave their presents. ( Won't tell you what I think of that!!)

When your family gets bigger you just have to find a way to compromise. I am happy to have just one dinner to prepare now and I am happy to go to my son's for Christmas. Easter was at my youngest son's but this last year we just didn't do anything. They were moving and my daughter can't have it as they live in an apartment with stairs and my DH can't do stairs.

My son Nathan did have us over for the 4th of July for a barbeque this year. That was fun. I don't have time to go their way much and Nathan and Cody are out of town alot on jobsites. So we don't see much of them otherwise.

Boston1954

In my family, Jim likes to do all the cooking at Thanksgiving. I watch the parade.

For Halloween, I get out my favorite scary movies and eat chocolate. We live on a dead end street and get no kiddies wanting candy.

Christmas....well on Christmas Eve we must have Chinese food and watch Bing Crosby in "Holiday Inn", and one or more versions of "A Christmas Carol".

New Year's........Sparkling Grape juice and the count down, then straight to sleep. We don't go out anyplace that night. Afraid of being killed by some drunk driver.

Pam B

Well up to now we have always done Thanksgiving on Sat. That way my hub's sibs and their families could go elsewhere on T'giving. My own family does not get together for T'giving. For the past 30 years my family and my brother's family all have gone to my dad and step-mom's on Xmas Eve and then we get together with my hub's family on Xmas day. I have a feeling this year things will change due to several reasons....my step-mom has passed away and on my side of the family my niece and 2 of my children now have sig. others who will also want them with their families. Neither my hub's family, nor mine have discussed how we are going to handle the upcoming holidays. Guess it is something that we need to start talking about.

BlueChicken

We don't have thanksgiving over here... so it's just another regular day! ;-)

But we do have Christmas where we eat far too much and drink far too much! LOL

Our Christmas is in the middle of summer, so we usually have a barbecue lunch, with chicken and steak and sausages, salads and cold meats, and lots and lots of desserts. Then the afternoon we usually either go to the beach so the kids can swim, or take the dogs to the river and try and walk off lunch.

MollieSue

For the holidays, (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter), my kids all go to their in-laws for lunch, then back here for dinner. That also lets all the little ones have the whole morning to play with their presents, etc, at home. A few times we've had the dinner with Dave's kids on a different day, due to their schedules, etc.
I used to provide all the food and everything, but now ask the kids to provide a dish or two. There are 20 of them now! lol!!! And I think they all really enjoy doing it.
A year or two ago, my kids started drawing names between themselves, and all of them buying for all of the little kids. It's a 'have to' for me, to buy for all the kids no matter their age. Their presents have just gotten a bit cheaper over the past few years, when they started mutiplying so much! lol!!!! And we try making some things too.
I also continue to make each of my kids their 'birthday dinner'. A couple of times my DDILs have done it, and that's fine with me. And they've been alternating who makes mine! We all get together for everyones birthday dinners.
:D