Thursday, October 25, 2007

TFT..Finally!

It's been awhile since I've posted a Thoughts for Thursday! Wow! I don't even know WHY its been that long. My thoughts are trickling towards the holidays...with fall here I can't stop thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas! I want to know your holiday traditions...more specifically what do you do about visiting family or having them come to your house over Thanksgiving and Christmas? Do you alternate who you visit each year? Do your parents/family/inlaws visit you and celebrate at your house? With both my parents in St. Louis and Mike's in Columbia, we are trying to figure out what to do. Since we've been married, I think, we've seen each other's families on Thanksgiving and Christmas. and at times it can be stressful...it doesn't even seem like a break! It is going to be a little bit different this year since he has to work on Thanksgiving...I do know he has Christmas off this year. :) Yeah! Anyway, what do you and your spouse/kiddos do? Do you alternate visiting your parents and then his the next year? Or is it the same every year? What would you LIKE to do? I think when we have kids, I would want to start our OWN traditions as a family....I want to be able to relax and enjoy the holidays and see family. Any thoughts?!?!

7 comments:

Nicole said...

Oh holidays... joy joy. In the past few years I began dreading holidays. With my mom and dad divorced, we had a total of three houses to visit each holiday (Ry's parents, my moms and my dads). To say the least, they were stressful and very un-joyous.

Since having Porter, we changed up our Christmas traditions. We spend Christmas Eve with Ryan's family. Christmas day is spent at home and my mom, sister and brother come over. Last year my dad did stop by in the afternoon on Christmas day, but not sure what we'll do this year (if we'll spend a different day with him etc...). Then, my extended side of the family gets together either before or after Christmas, as does Ryan's extended family. Its crazy.

Now... Thanksgiving. This is a holiday I dread. We had really hoped to be in a new house this year so we could have both our families over for ONE dinner. My side of the family (my mom, brother, sister, and niece) is relatively small. Ry's family is his parents, his sister, her hubby and their three girls. I see no reason to have two separate huge dinners, however the only family that has a big enough house is Ry's parents and they never think to invite my whopping 5 family members over). Anyhow... not sure how we'll do Thanksgiving this year. Probably the same as last... stuffing ourselves twice in one day, trying to decide what time to have each dinner... blah blah.

Ferris Family said...

Thanksgiving has always been with my family. Travis's mom and sister and brother are always invited. Even though they never come, we still see them over the course of the weekend.
Christmas used to be a mess. Since Nelson's first Christmas (4yrs ago) it has gotten a ton better. We have a set date to Celebrate with Travis's sisters, brothers, and mom and then we spend Christmas Eve with my family. We do presents, church, and dinner. Then we put our boys in their jammies and drive back to St. Louis. Christmas morning is spent at our house! Anyone who wants may come over, but we do not get out of our jammies or leave the house until dinner time. We want the boys to have memories of being with their family and really enjoying the holiday.

Jenny said...

Ugg. The dreaded holidays! Like Nicole, Matt and I have three families to see on the holidays. My mom's family, my dad's family and Matt's parents. We used to try to see everyone on both Thanksgiving and Christms, but this got to be WAY too much.

Especially now that Acadia is here, we alternate. We spend every Christmas Eve with my dad's family. Then we alternate - one year, we will do Thanksgiving at with my mom's family/Christmas with Matt's family/and Easter back with my mom's family. Then the next year we do the oposite. But since my father's family always gets together on Christmas Eve, it's easy to make it there every year.

It's a balancing act trying to make it work, that's for sure!

Amy said...

i love everything about the holiday except having to divide time. fortunatley we live near both sets of parents. for several year now, we spend thanksgiving with john's parents and usually visit for a short time with my parents in the evening.

we used to spend christmas with my family. last year, i got brave and had my family, john's parents, and my sister's in-laws. yes. it was crazy but fun.

i am not sure about this christmas. my husband works night shift and a lot of overtime too. therefore, i want to spend most of the time with the four of us and see everyone else afterwards.

Heather S. said...

Since Kevin's parents are in Indy and mine are in Illinois (and we are in Missouri) we do Thanksgiving with one family and Christmas with the other. Then the next year we switch. So this year, Thanksgiving is with my family - we will go to my parents. We will celebrate Christmas at the same time because my brother and his wife will be in Chile most of the month of December. I also have my 10 year class reunion that weekend. It will be crazy. I think we are going to Indy for Christmas this year (we haven't been there at all since Kevin and I have been together 8 1/2 years). We have started a few traditions for the whole month of December since we are gone a lot of Christmases (we always go to my parents the year we celebrate with them). To me being with family and celebrating Jesus' birth are the most important things and if that means not being at home we are okay with that.

jenny said...

thanksgiving is usually pretty low key - still going to my grandma's house x2 on my side - and matt's parents house on his side. i don't dread this holiday as much as christmas.

christmas is a ratrace. my parents are divorced so we have my mom's family, my dad's family, as well as my grandma's x2 still having one 'big' family get together - which equals four christmas get togethers on my side, to matt's one with his immediate family.

since having tucker we have wanted to stay home and let people come see us - but we realize that we it would be easier for us to just make the rounds for now. this is still a work in progress. we would love to have each of our families over for the holidays - but our house is just not big enough. maybe i'll ask santa for more room!

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