Ever since my parents got divorced I’ve spent the holidays on the road. Start off at Mom’s, end up at Dad’s or some other family members house because you just HAD to see everyone, no one was ever satisfied. I used to pick up my sister and we’d travel together, which was nice, but most of the day was spent in the car and the holidays became stressful. Where am I going this time? Who’s going to be pissed if I don’t have dinner at their house? When did it become a job to organize & schedule the holidays? Before they got divorced (from what I remember), the holidays were spent at one house, both sides of the family were there. If you couldn’t make it, you couldn’t make it or you stopped in for dessert or just a drive by, a phone call. Christmas morning was for us (my sister, me, my mom and dad), then the relatives would start coming over while Mom and Dad were cooking and before that we sat and watched the parade, March of the Wooden Soldiers on TV or played with our toys. Back to my original premise….Then I got older and certain holidays were spent at one house, not 2, mostly because they were over an hour away from each other. I slept at Mom’s, then traveled to Dad’s or Grandpa’s or Grandma’s or somewhere else. I never understood the holidays, the concept of family, selfish of me I know, but if you just saw them Sunday why do you have to see them again on Thursday? (just an example) It’s still dinner with the family isn’t it? If I had my way, Thanksgiving would be with friends or at least part of it would be.
I do hope one day my mind changes about this whole holiday concept rather than just having a few days off of work and rushing around buying presents for people, making stuffing, cranberry sauce and baking pies and the all out extravaganza of cookie weekend which I do love. The stress of it all just brings me down as soon as Halloween is over. Do we really need to buy adults presents when we give them something for their Birthday? Especially if it’s a big family, why can’t we all just do a grab bag for Christmas or just buy for the kids? (Just my POV) The only time I can remember waking up on Christmas morning and not having to rush to be somewhere was when I lived at my dad’s and that was about 10 years ago. At least this year I can sleep in, not rush and have to be somewhere at 7 am, knowing that is not the way I want to spend the holiday, but rather in the arms of someone I care about, sipping hot cocoa and having breakfast in bed in a nice comfy robe, creating traditions of my own.
Disclosure – this could have been told as if I was the Grinch, but I’m not all about coal in stockings, chopping off the heads of turkeys and tripping the Easter bunny. Yes, it could have been a lot worse, yes I did get coal for Christmas once and YES Santa does need to take off a few pounds.
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