Yes, I know Christmas is still two months away but it’s not too early to start thinking about who gets Christmas. Before you are married it’s usually an easy enough decision. Most people would spend Christmas with their family.
Once you marry suddenly there are a whole host of other people and other traditions to consider.
If you have families that are close together in distance it may work to go to one for Christmas lunch and the other for dinner or it may be possible to all get together.But sometimes that doesn’t really keep anyone happy.
If your families are a few hours or long way away that isn’t even an option.
What started me thinking about it and how different families operate were comments made by a couple of friends recently. One complained ‘we always have to accommodate the in-laws. So we always have to go there.’ The person who made this comment is not a young person but is in his eighties. So, it’s not just the woman who finds the Christmas dilemma hard.
‘The family never comes here, another observed.’ Now maybe their family might think they are doing them a favor so they don’t have to host and do the cooking, but if so they don’t get the point. They would like to be in their own home and have family come to them for once.
Other I know ended up having all the extended family with children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren at their home and ended up catering for anywhere from 30- 60 on Christmas day. Sometimes a smaller family makes it less complicated than that.
Other families I know alternate Christmas Day with the wife’s family one year and with the husband’s family the next. The next year it works the other way.
A lot depends on the families how well they get along, whether they can accommodate visitors for more than a night etc.
Sometimes a newly married couple or a young family might just want to spend Christmas day on their own. In this case they may arrange a Christmas celebration with family a week or two before or after Christmas.
We celebrated Christmas with our daughter and her husband here this year in January because in December they were on mission in Africa. Does the date really matter? What do you think?
Related blogs
Living Close to Family
Your Parents Will Affect Your Marriage