Uh huh…nothing like spending the holidays with family and friends. It recharges us from all the greatest vibes and energy, love and joy. Right? But nothing is more exhausting than trying to decide where and with whom of your loved ones you’ll spend one holiday or the other. I know you resonate with me.
It’s our baby’s second holiday season, (well out of my belly) and we decided we will not spend our time and energy arguing about how we’re going to split the holidays. Instead, we created a calendar system to make sure everyone’s happy. If you only spend the holidays with you parents and his parents, you can use these ideas to arrange your holidays from now on.
- Have Thanksgiving lunch at his or your relatives’ place and dinner likewise or host one activity for the entire family in your house
- Go to your parents’ house for brunch, lunch or dinner on Christmas Eve or to his folks (just decide which table you enjoy first) Or host the activity
- On Christmas day repeat steps one two. Same if you also celebrate New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
Now I will give you a few tips on how to split the holidays in different scenarios:
- Spend Christmas Eve with your parents or your in-laws or every other year. This applies to Thanksgiving as well
- On Christmas Day, let the kids enjoy their gifts for a while and then head over to your or his parents. OR, just plan to celebrate Christmas all together in your place if you don’t live too far away from each other
- Traveling: In case your relatives or your significant other’s relatives live in totally opposite directions (far away in the States or towns), you can plan if it’s okay with the both of you to spend every other holiday with them. That way, you can enjoy the season without the burden of traveling with high traffic or the craziness of the airport all the time
- If both of you have blended families because your parents re-married and you rather spend Christmas with one or the other, just arrange a day around the holiday season to enjoy your loved ones, exchange gifts, have dinner or enjoy any other family traditions that you have
- Plan your own grand family holiday: Plan ahead and celebrate with your family and friends all together in one place (either your house, a restaurant, a park, or a city hall). Send an invitation via your favorite social media and propose a date and time everyone can make it to the celebration. Also, include a list of the foods, snacks, beverages and board games they can bring to enjoy the party
- How about friends? Plan to host a brunch, lunch or dinner for them. Or if you don’t like to host gatherings, make reservations at a nice restaurant and enjoy the company of those who make you laugh or are there for you all year long in happiness and hardship
There’s only a few holidays that people get off from work to spend time with the family. But those days aren’t the only days you can enjoy their company. Make time for them all year long and you’ll never battle with your partner for those few days that are crowded with ideas from the media. Also, using a special calendar for this will save you from forgetting what you agreed on doing for the holiday season.
Wishing you a marvelous holiday season from the Caribbean!
Hugs,
~Edaliz
Mom Does It Better 