I guess an October blogging challenge is the perfect time of year to talk about Holidays. I like family-centered holidays. I don’t get too into patriotic ones, or phony gift/card/candy giving ones. But give me Thanksgiving and Christmas any day of the year.
My parents, because of employment moved away from their families. My mom ended up just one state away, but my dad moved from the northeast to the south. Growing up, most holidays were just the four of us. Every other year for Thanksgiving we would go to see my mom’s cousin and spend the holiday with that side of the family. We still do the every other year thing with that side of the family. On off years we didn’t do much. There’s no point in going too crazy to feed four people. You can only do so much with a thousand pounds of turkey before it goes bad. But on travel years we took part in the traditional Thanksgiving with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, pies, etc.
Christmas was the big holiday at our house. It evolved over the years, but it always stayed the same. We make homemade lasagna (and this is the only time we make lasagna) and have it for Christmas lunch. At first, we had lasagna because it was something we could make ahead and my mom could just toss it in the oven when we got home from church. Then, as my sister and I got older we would take on the responsibility of making lunch while my parents were at church. At our house, Christmas is a day we just hang out with family.
Now that I’m married my husband and I try to switch off holidays with the families. Year A we’ll do Thanksgiving with my family (on travel years) and Christmas with his. Year B we’ll do Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with mine. It’s not quite so simple since our jobs have us working non-traditional hours. Last year he was on-call for Thanksgiving and couldn’t even drive across town to spend it with his family as they live out of his response-time window. Even though it was a travel year for my family, I was working black-Friday so I couldn’t make the trip so I went to his family’s dinner solo.
Luckily, both of our immediate families live in the metroplex and are cool about doing holiday whenever we can get everyone together- not a whole lot of emphasis is placed on the designated day of the calendar. The holiday is not a date on a calendar, it’s the spirit of the gathering.
We’re not sure what the game plan will be for this year. We’ll figure it out when we can.
My parents, because of employment moved away from their families. My mom ended up just one state away, but my dad moved from the northeast to the south. Growing up, most holidays were just the four of us. Every other year for Thanksgiving we would go to see my mom’s cousin and spend the holiday with that side of the family. We still do the every other year thing with that side of the family. On off years we didn’t do much. There’s no point in going too crazy to feed four people. You can only do so much with a thousand pounds of turkey before it goes bad. But on travel years we took part in the traditional Thanksgiving with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, pies, etc.
Christmas was the big holiday at our house. It evolved over the years, but it always stayed the same. We make homemade lasagna (and this is the only time we make lasagna) and have it for Christmas lunch. At first, we had lasagna because it was something we could make ahead and my mom could just toss it in the oven when we got home from church. Then, as my sister and I got older we would take on the responsibility of making lunch while my parents were at church. At our house, Christmas is a day we just hang out with family.
Now that I’m married my husband and I try to switch off holidays with the families. Year A we’ll do Thanksgiving with my family (on travel years) and Christmas with his. Year B we’ll do Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with mine. It’s not quite so simple since our jobs have us working non-traditional hours. Last year he was on-call for Thanksgiving and couldn’t even drive across town to spend it with his family as they live out of his response-time window. Even though it was a travel year for my family, I was working black-Friday so I couldn’t make the trip so I went to his family’s dinner solo.
Luckily, both of our immediate families live in the metroplex and are cool about doing holiday whenever we can get everyone together- not a whole lot of emphasis is placed on the designated day of the calendar. The holiday is not a date on a calendar, it’s the spirit of the gathering.
We’re not sure what the game plan will be for this year. We’ll figure it out when we can.
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