Oh, the holidays!
I love celebrating the holidays in all their festive glory! It's the most wonderful time of the year. The grand holiday marathon starts with spooky Halloween, works its way through family & food-filled Thanksgiving, continues with family & gift-filled Christmas, then ends with the champagne pop of New Year's Eve. This marathon has been all the sweeter with RZ by my side. &, honestly, a bit more complicated.
How do you handle holidays as a couple?
We had no formal holiday agreement before I had my pretty sparkler on my finger. My family is scattered throughout the country with a good chunk in California & a small chunk here in Jersey. His family lives about one hour away. For the most part, we spent Thanksgiving with his family. Then we would spend Christmas apart with our respective families. Don't even get me started on our senior dog Gucci- he had to split his holidays with us too. I spent his final Christmas Eve without him while he celebrated with RZ & his family. Craziness! This holiday approach served us well for awhile but its days were numbered. Everything else aside, we missed each other too much.
Cue our first holidays as an engaged couple last year. There was no question that we would not be spending the holidays apart; those days were in our past. We, including our new pup Bailey, would be together for the holidays. We decided to take the split-the-day approach & put as many miles as possible on our car. RZ & I spent Thanksgiving afternoon chilling with my family, then took off & enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast with his family. Christmas Eve with his family, Christmas day with my family. It worked fairly well.
Now we're facing the holiday season as newlyweds, our very first holidays as husband & wife. It's so special I can hardly stand it! This year, we're flying by the seat of our pants & Bailey is coming along for the wild holiday ride. I suppose we're still searching for that perfect holiday solution that keeps us happy, as well as our families. Does it exist? Thanksgiving will be celebrated with his family. Phew, only one car trip! Christmas will probably shake down to Christmas Eve with his family & Christmas with my family. To be decided.
I can't imagine negotiating the holidays once we have kids! It seems a bit like mission impossible.
One thing we have figured out is that we must celebrate holidays together. Just as we are better together, holidays are much, much better together.
Photo by/Print available at Etsy in blushface's shop
True words! There are no easy answers. We take it one holiday at a time, and are lucky to be able to split Christmas and Christmas Eve. Spending them together is a must now that we're married. And kids will make it harder. I'm not ready to stress about that yet. Maybe I'll host holidays at my house and make everyone come to me!
ReplyDeleteI think once you have kids, you get to host the holidays (at least that's how it worked with my parents). John and I are too far from our families to see them on "small" holidays like Thanksgiving or Easter, but we split Christmas. Last year, John didn't join me in Jersey to see my family, but this time around, I'm insisting we stay together!
ReplyDeleteTrue, hosting does seem like the best option. Not in our small condo in our difficult-to-park city though! Someday :-)
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