Holiday plans...who has them already?

[zoebartlett]

I know it's early, but I'd like to live vicariously through those of you who have awesome holiday plans this year.

My family got some bad news recently, and it looks like we'll be staying here instead of visiting my sister on the west coast (of the US). I'm hoping she'll be able to come here to New England but I'm not sure if she'll be able to travel.

As of now, it looks like my husband and I will resume our tradition of spending Christmas Eve with his family at his parents' house. My husband's the youngest of 5 kids, and he has several nieces and nephews, and even grand-nieces/nephews. One of his nephews' wives is expecting their second baby sometime in January, I think, so I'm not sure they'll be there. The rest of my in-laws will be there with their families though. We draw names around Thanksgiving, so we'll be getting a gift for just one of his family members (and the baby who will make his arrival soon). That makes it so much easier on the wallet!

We'll most likely spend Christmas Day at my parents' house. Honestly, if it's just going to be the four of us, it won't be the most lively affair. I'd LOVE to have lots of people over but my mom would be way too stressed. My extended family is spread out around the US, and we've never really been the type of family to travel to aunts and uncles and cousins' houses. I wish we were though. I love that!

 

[Octavia]

Zoe, I'm sorry about your family's bad news, I hope things get better soon.

I don't really have holiday plans -- just started a new job today and I don't get the day after Thanksgiving off, so I can't travel far. My family lives about 4.5 hours from us, so unfortunately I'm not going to make it there. But I'm planning on doing the full shebang and inviting bunch of my friends who live around here, so it should still be lots of fun. I do get Christmas Eve off and will be going home for that weekend, I'm really looking forward to it!

 

[vc10um]

We booked our hotel and flights for our yearly trip to Missouri for Thanksgiving with FI's family last week. We'll have Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with his mom's family, and then with his dad's family on Saturday. The one on Saturday will be a huge affair with probably over 50 people in attendance. We fly in Thursday morning and then stick around until Tuesday to do a few things for the wedding.

Christmas will be with my family as always...in Ohio this year. We'll fly in Thursday and out Sunday in an effort to save a little vacation time.

The nice thing for our families is that FI's family's big holiday is Turkey Day. My family is HUGE on Christmas. So it works well! No fighting over who gets what holiday what year!

 

[princesss]

I'm going to Dubai! I just got the time off approved.

 

[packrat]

We don't really do much..my brother will finally be able to have Christmas here w/us for the first time since 2004. Depending on when his girlfriend gets back, she might want to stay and do the Holiday with her parents, so I told him we'd just change the day we do it to work for her b/c it will be her first w/us and we want it to be fun for her and not feel like she *has* to leave there. We never go on trips or anything, just a few family members come to eat and watch the kids open presents. This year the kids are getting puppy.

 

[lknvrb4]

We are all set to go to Ft. Meyers, FL for Thanksgiving. My MIL is getting us a room on Sanibel or Captiva Island for a night without kids.Yay!

 

[fieryred33143]

Zoe hope everything is ok with your family

This year's rotation is Thanksgiving at my in-laws, Christmas at my mom's, and not sure about New Years. We always have such a hard time figuring out New Years. If we stay in Orlando for New Years that means potentially 10 days away from home. If we stay in town though, we have to go to my in-laws and it is ridiculously boring on New Years. We all sit around staring at each other and wait for midnight.

We are starting to look for a house and I'm really hoping that by next year we will be in one. That'll mean the end of the rotations

 

[Clio]

We're going to Naples (Florida!) to spend Thanksgiving with my grandparents. My parents and sister will also be there, and maybe my aunt and cousin.

For Christmas, we're going to visit my in-laws in New England. I'm hoping to fit in a quick visit to my college roommate while we're up there.

 

[kama_s]

We're going to Egypt for 2 weeks! YAY!

Might also swing a quick visit to Dubai to see my dad and a few close friends/relatives, but that's up in the air at the moment.

 

[JewelFreak]

Zoe, hope all is soon well & wonderful with your family. Tough gig, huh? Dust for you!

You folks who do big family holidays are lucky, like Clio. Appreciate it while you have it! My parents are both gone & siblings all over the country, so we never have the time to get all together -- would love one of those noisy ones w/cousins & all that too. My husband is Dutch & Christmas is not a big deal there, for his family as he grew up it was mainly a day off work. So it's hard to feel celebratory myself when he doesn't care at all. Makes me sad. I do LOVE putting up the tree every year -- when we lived in Europe & I traveled all over for work, then Asia, I bought ornaments everywhere, especially on sale after the holidays. I never do the same tree twice, which is loads of fun; start planning it a couple months ahead. My brother does a Christmas-morning conference call w/the entire family, even included me when we lived in Amsterdam. We talk usually about an hour, catching up -- it's a terrific upper. With the number of animals we have, it gets expensive to go away, so we tend to stick around home.

--- Laurie

 

[packrat]

Aw Laurie, come visit us this year! We don't get all fancy but we still have fun!

 

[stephbolt]

This year we'll travel to visit my family for Thanksgiving (2-3 hour drive) and attend my HS reunion the day after Thanksgiving. We will go to DH's mom's (3-4 hour drive in the opposite direction) for Christmas. I'm kind of dreading this. We agreed to swap the holidays from how we did them last year, but after spending the last two Thanksgivings with DH's family, they are so boring! My family is loud and fun and the get-together lasts for hours and hours. DH's family goes to someone's house in the afternoon to eat, and then everyone turns around and goes home. Maybe I can try and inject some fun...

 

[yssie]

Haha yup, we've got ours, too - working through thanksgiving and December to make up for taking a month+ off for wedding/honeymoon stuff

I'm hoping DH will be able to take a few days off so we can take an extended weekend in wine country in the winter, we'll have to see.

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

We're going to Egypt for 2 weeks! YAY!

Might also swing a quick visit to Dubai to see my dad and a few close friends/relatives, but that's up in the air at the moment.

Oooh, have fun in Egypt! I was there a couple years ago and would love to return someday. Have you been before? I'd also love to go to Dubai! It's definitely up on my list.

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

Somehow DH's folks and my folk's live about 20 minutes from each other but we never met until after college. This makes holidays extremely easy! Now that we're in the process of moving out of state, we'll have to drive six hours to get home to our families. So I'm very thankful we can see everyone in one trip. Ooh, this thread has me all excited for the holidays!

I envy the people that go on big vacations over the holidays but I'm so used to our family tradition, I'd really feel like something was missing if I skipped it.

 

[dcgator]

The nice thing for our families is that FI's family's big holiday is Turkey Day. My family is HUGE on Christmas. So it works well! No fighting over who gets what holiday what year!

Ditto on the holiday-specific families; My DH's family is really big into Thanksgiving and my family is really big into Christmas, so it definitely saves a lot of headaches each year. So, we will head back to TN for Thanksgiving and FL for Christmas. I tell ya, going to a tropical place when it's freaking freezing in the Northeast is sooo nice. (Thanks mom ). We usually spend NYE at home with friends.

This is getting me super psyched for the holidays, especially since it's going to be October on Friday. Wow, where did the year go?

 

[elrohwen]

We never do anything very exciting.

This year I'll be flying home from the Bahamas on Thanksgiving, so our families are coming up the day after (or maybe Saturday) to celebrate it with us.

Christmas will probably be in Pittsburgh at my parents' house. Nothing crazy.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I'm not sure what we're doing. I hope whatever it is, if it involves relatives that it also involves alcohol

 

[JewelFreak]

I'm not sure what we're doing. I hope whatever it is, if it involves relatives that it also involves alcohol

I choked at that! MC, you must be related to my family!!

Hey, Packrat, honey, thanks for the invite.....I'm packing now!

--- Laurie

 

[diamondringlover]

Not sure yet, been thinking about it though..my Dad passed away a couple of weeks ago so I know that I have to make sure my Mom stays with either me or one of my sisters thru the holidays....it will be very tough for our family this year

 

[packrat]

I'm sorry about your dad!

 

[yssie]

Not sure yet, been thinking about it though..my Dad passed away a couple of weeks ago so I know that I have to make sure my Mom stays with either me or one of my sisters thru the holidays....it will be very tough for our family this year

HUGS, my dear

And Zoe, I'm sorry to hear your family has had bad news hopefully your sister will be able to make it 'round!


Kama, have fun in Egypt!! I wanted to go so badly when we were in Greece, we just weren't able to take the extra time off bring back a ton of pictures! And princess - Dubai sounds awesome! Are you going for work, or to visit friends/family? Or just being a tourist?

 

[zoebartlett]

Okay, I've now tried multiple tmes to reply to this thread, but each time, I hit a random button on my computer and my post goes POOF.

Thanks Octavia, Fiery, JewelFreak, and Yssie! My sister and her husband have separated, and it looks like it's a permanent split. It's very sad, yes, but they're pretty amicable about it. We're taking our cues from my sister (on how to deal with the "loss" of my BIL, but my mom's taking it hard).

Octavia --I hope your first day on the new job went well. Congratulations!

Princesss -- I'm glad you're going! Dubai sounds like such an interesting place.

Packrat -- a puppy! Awesome! What kind? You may have posted about it here before but I can't remember.

Clio -- Where in New England will you be? I heard that it's supposed to be colder than usual but not quite as snowy.

JewelFreak -- I wish had a big family! My extended family doesn't really live close to each other, and we've never been the family that loads up the car and travels to see them over the holidays. I wish we did though. It's fun getting together at my in-laws for Christmas Eve, but I'm not super close with them.

 

[packrat]

Zoe, it's a Jack Russell. It's from the breeder we almost got one from over the summer but couldn't swing the funds. (I posted pics of that puppy and boy she was a cuuuutie!)

 

[Rhea]

No holiday plans for us yet. My sister and mother were supposed to come see us but due to some family issues that won't be possible. I don't really want to go spend Christmas with DH's family like we did last year (neither does he!) so we may go rent a cottage somewhere rural for the week if we can.

 

[NakedFinger]

same plans as always..... christmas eve visit my mom's extended family (her grandparents, my aunt uncles cousins on that side), then to DH's dad's side of the family (aunts uncles cousins). Then christmas morning, presents between DH and I in the morning, then off to his dad's for breakfast and exchange of gifts among his dad , step-mom, step sister and brother in law, then off to my parents house for gift among my parents and siblings, then off to my dad's side of the family (grandparents aunts uncles cousins, etc). The the next morning, off to long island to visit DH's mom's side of the family.

WHEW! Its exhausting just thinking about it.

What im most looking forward to? My honeymoon in December and getting back right before Christmas all tan!

 

[ImpatientOne]

I normally stick pretty close to home for the Holidays. My husband is deployed to the Middle East, so I tend to not be in a very festive mood while he is gone!

Thanksgiving will most likely be at my Dad's. He lives about 2 hours away so my daughter and I will probably drive up the nigh before and spend the night.

Christmas I hope to have all three of my kids plus the grandkids here under one roof!

Hubby is due home for his 2 weeks of R&R right around New Years, so hopefully I will be spending it with him

 

[davi_el_mejor]

We don't have kids, my family is on the opposite coast and the SO's family is 7 hours away. So I volunteer to work xmas so people with kids and family can enjoy it. We do however love a good Thanksgiving feast so we invite "work-orphans" over. Usually friends from work who's family make a bigger deal about xmas than Thanksgiving.

The SO and I really don't mind "celebrating" holidays on different days because of my work schedule. We never really get to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries on the proper date so we're used to it.

 

[Clio]

Clio -- Where in New England will you be? I heard that it's supposed to be colder than usual but not quite as snowy.

My in-laws are in western Massachusetts, near Amherst. It's a beautiful area, although I like it better in summer.

 

[lizzyann]

Clio -- Where in New England will you be? I heard that it's supposed to be colder than usual but not quite as snowy.

My in-laws are in western Massachusetts, near Amherst. It's a beautiful area, although I like it better in summer.

Hi Clio and Zoe! I'm a New England girl too in Western Mass!

Luckily, all of my family and DH's family is within half hour so not too much travel time. Thanksgiving is the only holiday where we split our day between both families, but Xmas is a lot easier as my hubby is Polish and Xmas Eve is more important than Xmas day. So Eve is with inlaws, xmas day with my family. Much easier on my son this way too.