Holidays in your Home!

My husband and I like to spend the Christmas holidays together and in the evening enjoy to meet our parents. It is a great holiday when all family gathers together so I really like this warm spirit and energy. All together we watch TV, have a lot of conversations and discussions and afterward we enjoy walking outside and taking a lot of photographs. It is my favorite, the most soulful holiday.

We usually spend Christmas apart since he's in law enforcement and often has to work it and I go home for a bit to visit family. We still have a tree and decorate it, and watch Christmas movies all December drinking egg nog/hot chocolate.

Before my flight, my FH and I exchange gifts and he drives me to the airport if he's not working. We usually spend New Year's Eve together back home too!

This year, we are both able to visit family, but we still did our gift exchange before we left. However, he is working New Year's Eve so I'm going out with friends and having a girl's night!

It is so incredibly helpful when your family is easygoing. that is mine. they understand family situations/dynamics change.

maybe start this year something little with your fiancé if you can. say between mass and a family's house, grab a quick drink somewhere and just have 30 minutes just you two. and that may also help with all the frustration.

Mimosas!!!! There's a good idea! They always remind me of being on vacation and what better time to dream of the beach when you're surrounded in snow haha!

Also goooooooooooooood luck.... that is something I could never handle. Retail employees have all my gratitude for dealing with all that!

His family is in Montreal and my family is in Saskatoon, SK . He goes home every christmas since the military pays for his flights and he only gets to go home at christmas.. Last year we were dating at this time and I went with him to Montreal, I absolutely loved it! And this year, because of my recent job change I was unable to take time off for christmas so Im in SK and he's in montreal but this will be our only christmas away from each other..

we plan to travel back to Montreal every christmas! his family does things a lot more different than mine, and I want to be surrounded by his family during this time! other than that we haven't made any traditions yet since we don't live together! so next christmas we will start something new

The alternating is definitely difficult. we have been doing it for a few years now. and we do the alternating because my family lives further away (we are in Windsor, and my family is in Oshawa). so logistically it is just better to alternate.

the best thing I can personally recommend. and it won't seem like the best solution. deal with it now. enjoy it and make the best of it. when you are married or when you have kids (whatever you and FH decide). you can choose together what you want to do/what traditions you will keep/change.

the big thing in dealing with this...is having FH's support. and hopefully he sees your frustration over it. a few years ago. my FMIL tried to push so hard for us to fly Christmas day to meet her in florida (she lives in the states). and she kept pushing pushing. until FH snapped and defended my family/me and that it was my family's turn and she would have to deal. she hasn't pushed or fought us on Christmas ever since.

When talking about Christmas, you need a tree pic. I gave in to my FH and we have a fake tree. one day I will go back to a real (and the future kid can decorate the fake). haha

Christmas alternates every other year, as my family doesn't live close by (they are a 4.5 hour drive), and FH's dad is local, but mom is in Oklahoma (she flies up every other year).

so on the years we are local. FMIL comes up from Oklahoma. and she is between our house and my bro in law and sis in laws house. on Christmas eve FH and I always go to mass (he goes because it is my families tradition, even though i'm not practicing. I love it on Christmas eve). and then we will cook or eat at home. sometimes a friend hosts people for drinks and we go to that too.

Christmas day, I wake up, put the bird in the oven. then a bit later FH wakes up, we will open presents. I will already have a Kahlua and coffee in hand. If FMIL is at our house, we open the gifts from her. we make an easy breakfast. FMIL goes to other sons house. I finish cooking the bird. and carve it to transport to FH's brothers home. We go there mid afternoon and hang out. I cook dinner there (one day my house will have a dining room to host dinner). then presents/games.

We are really fortunate that FFIL and FMIL get along well. so FFIL will come for dinner. and that way we can just do one Christmas.

On the years we are with my family (which we stay with my aunt/uncle. who are like parents to me). Christmas eve an aunt hosts dinner. Then we go to mass. Then to another aunts house for drinks until way too late. Christmas morning we do gifts with my cousins kids before they go to their dads house. then we do gifts together as adults. cook a big breakfast. later in the day have a big dinner. during the day is always playing some sort of board. my aunt and I start drinking first thing in the am...and just keep the party going all day long!

christmas tree

Oh I should add! I'm similar to your Christmas timeslines hahh!

Christmas Eve - Anniversary Celebrations and Christmas Eve Mass (though I will go at 7pm), Drive to my parents

Christmas - Morning with my parents, lunch with his family, dinner with my family again

Boxing Day - Sleep off the insane amount of food we eat! Hahahh!

Also a tradition my mom and I share is making Baileys Waffles Christmas morning! Topped with Baileys whipped cream and a baileys hot chocolate.... we are tipsy by 10am haha!

I LOOOOOVE Christmas!! My FH and I our dating anniversary is actually Christmas Eve! Which is also the day he proposed to me on haah! So it seems to get better and better every year!

I'll never forget going to his Family's house for Christmas lunch the day after we were engaged and announcing it to everyone! (Well actually one cousin saw my ring and screamed and then the cat was out of the bag haha!)

We do not live together yet however! But next year I know we are going to go hard on Christmas! Probably even host Christmas Lunch! And have our first hosted New Years too!!! So excited!!

Christmas is my favourite holiday! I love it so much that I celebrate it once in December (English) and once in January (Ukrainian)!! lol

Right now our home is a bit of a mess: see my latest discussion about home reno's

Before meeting my FH Christmas was so easy! I was the youngest out of all of my cousins so the older ones already had families which meant less people to see on Christmas. And we only had to worry about half of my family as we celebrated English Christmas with my Mom's side and Ukrainian Christmas with my Dad's side!

Now we have his family and his parents are split (or really just never together), so we have lots to do! Just last Christmas we had to make 3 stops in one day!! It's insane!!

This year we will be going to his Aunt's house on the 23rd (Dad's side), his other Aunt's house on Christmas eve (Mom's side), his other Aunt's house right after that (Still Mom's side), Christmas morning breakfast at my Mom & Dad's, and then I think we have supper that day at his Aunt's house (Step-Dad's side). That or the step-dad's supper is to be switched with one of his other aunts on Christmas Eve.....

THANK GOD FOR OPERATION RED NOSE right???????

The holidays (Xmas/NYE) is my favorite time of the year, it was a huge production growing up and I guess it still is at my parents' house!
Now that we live far from our parents/families, we can't always go home to be with them. My FH's family really enjoys going somewhere warm (Florida the last couple of years) for the holidays.

So we've been doing a 3-year-split : Year 1 back to see our families, year 2 somewhere warm and year 3 by ourselves where we live. This year, we're going to Palm Springs with his parents and older brother, while his younger sister is in Wales with her kids and hubby's family.

It'll be my first year not in Canada for the holidays, so that'll be a shock for sure! I'm pumped to be experiencing something different though. So because we're not staying here, we didn't decorate our place, which bummed me out. I've been playing xmas music every weekend of December to make up for it haha.

I'm also reaaaaaaally looking forward to next year's holidays at home by ourselves as newlyweds! The first year we stayed home, it was amazing and a life changer: Waking up late, lazying around the living room and opening gifts just to two of us. It was perfect and relaxing haha.