Each family has its own unique set of holiday traditions. Whatever the traditions in your family, it is likely that you can look back through the years and see how certain things became a part of what your family does. For example, my father’s side of the family has always gotten together on Christmas Eve. I think that this tradition started when my cousins and I were born because each set of new parents had two sets of grandparents to include in their Christmas visiting schedule. Instead of trying to have each set of cousins make it to two sets of grandparents’ homes on Christmas day after having Christmas morning at their own homes, my father and his brothers and sisters decided to get together on Christmas Eve with their children at their mother’s house. That way, each set of cousins would see Grandma B. on Christmas Eve and visit their “other” set of grandparents on Christmas day.
I always enjoyed our Christmas Eve gatherings as well as our visits to my maternal grandmother’s house on Christmas day. We would wake up on Christmas morning and check out what was under the Christmas tree. After enjoying a nice breakfast, we would go to Grandma Lee’s for lunch or dinner. It was fun to have two whole days of celebration.
Now that I have grown up and have a family of my own, I still follow a similar Christmas schedule. Both grandmothers have long since passed, but the Christmas Eve festivities are alive and well. One of my aunts always hosts the crowd, and sometimes the feast du jour is Chinese food. Other times, it is a home made meal. Either way, there is always plenty of good food and plenty of good times to be had with my aunts, uncles and cousins. My youngest cousins are college age, and one of my cousins also has a baby. We all agree that Christmas Eve is an important part of what our family does, and that we will be doing it for years to come. On Christmas day, we visit with my parents in the morning because we stay at their house on Christmas Eve. We live about three and a half hours away from my parents and my aunts and uncles, so an overnight stay is definitely in order after a late night of dinner and fun. After breakfast and a light lunch, we drive home to Vermont where we get together with my husband’s side of the family for an afternoon and evening of food and fun. It will be interesting to see whether any of our visiting patterns change as our family expands and the children become more aware of what generally occurs on Christmas morning. For now, though, I love our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities.
How does your family fit all of those relatives into the holiday visiting schedule?