I just read a long Negotiating Holiday Family Time discussion that nearly gave me hives, so I thought I’d share my distress with all of you: where are you planning on spending the holidays, and with whom, and who’s unhappy about it?
U.S. Thanksgiving is five weeks away and it’s taking all of my willpower not to send out a panicky planning email right now. I need to know that everything’s sorted out so I can focus on making practice pies. Will we do Thanksgiving with my immediate family, my immediate and dad’s extended family, my partner’s immediate family, my partner’s immediate and extended family, just us at home, or all of the above? My mom’s extended family lives over eight hours away, so that removes one option from the pile (I adore them, but whew). My ideal?
- Thursday: Our little family at home, feasting and prepping the feast for the next day.
- Friday: My immediate family makes the 90-minute drive to celebrate on the prairie with us.
- Saturday: We make the 90-minute drive to celebrate with my partner’s immediate family.
- Sunday: Pie for breakfast, lying about, driving home, hoping someone washed all the dishes while we were gone.
Of course, this nice neat plan— which relies on us getting the full weekend off, still unknown— involves letting down my mom’s extended family, my dad’s extended family, and my partner’s extended family. That seems about par for the course of family disappointment, yes?
Are you thrilled about your upcoming holiday plans, or disappointed? And how many people are you thrilling/disappointing with those plans? Feel free to discuss winter holiday plans as well, but I can’t deal with those just yet.
(Image credits: Maxwell Ryan)
