Regular readers will remember that I had a very contentious divorce and co-parenting situation with my first husband. At some point about 25 years ago, it just became logical to say "why am I so committed to the specific date of Dec 25 when it literally doesn't matter?"
So on Dec 25, hubby #2 and I didn't do much except have a nice (but normal sized) dinner, and watch my favorite musicals all day. (Some years we travel - last year we were in DC.)
On a different day, a week or so after Christmas, we have GIFTMAS.
- The people who still have custody stuff going on can have their kids with way less conflict.
- The people with competitive work-time-off situations can get the day off more easily.
- The people who live across the country can fly home without paying peak holiday rates.
Except for one young adult, every single member of my family was able to be here, plus my "bonus kids" - high school friends of my daughter's and their little ones. I think we wound up with 25 people overall, with 6 families plus my dad.
This year, we had a special treat - my daughter's gender reveal for their first baby! It's a boy!
Generally speaking, we all only buy gifts for kids and senior citizens. We have a cook-off event - this year was macaroni and cheese, last year was chili. The top 2 or 3 people get prizes! Then we all open gifts in chaos mode, eat dessert, and BS/watch football until we get tired of the noise and head home. Then hubby and I team up and reset the house, which is actually one of my favorite bits. I love how we work together to create peace.
There was a moment today where my husband, who grew up in a raucous large family with a million cousins falling over each other like a box of puppies, just looked at me and said "this is what I wanted". Family with full bellies, joking around with each other, while the kids ran in literal circles around the house and babies were passed from knee to knee.
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