Holidays Coming Up -so what do u do for them?

[amiyesiam]

Originally Posted by Corkey

Duck n cover.
We will not be going to anyones home this year...yey!
We will have dinner at our home for a change, minus the in-laws I have a feeling.

For thanks giving we will be having it here and we will cook up a feast
maybe we will invite a few friends
the tree usually goes up thanks giving day
however (see pic of evil kitty in gallery) due to bandits arrival this year
that tradition will probably change this year
we will have to decide what we are willing to tolerate kitty/tree wise

christmas eve I am off and it will be us
and we will have dinner and open gifts
we will have picked out our own gifts
(it took Corkey a bit to see the brilliance of this, but he is now a convert)
each of us gets the same amount of money to get what we want and it goes under the tree
no shocks no disappointments etc

christmas day I work but not till afternoon

[dixie]

I love holidays. I would love to go all out for Halloween, but usually I end up working. *sigh*

Thanksgiving has never been much of anything in my family, except for another excuse to head to the condo in Daytona for another small vacay.

We do all Christmas celebrating on Christmas Eve day. It starts around 10am with nonstop food, presents, comradarie, games and just good times that last till late evening. Christmas Day is usually another good day to head to the condo again...lol

Not sure what will happen this year since Dad just had shoulder replacement surgery and is gonna be out of commission for quite some time.

[Logicaly]

I love the holidays! Although last year I came to the sad realization that the way they used to be, are forever changed, but that the amount of love that my family shares for each other has not. Plus, as I start a family of my own, and meet new people and invite them into the family, traditions are slowly changing.

Growing up my family literally did the exact same thing every year. I had a very large family, both on my moms side and my dads side. My dads side was always the most enjoyable for me, for reasons we won't get in to.

On Thanksgiving we would always drive down here to the Bay Area and stay with my aunt and uncle, we would have a huge feast at my aunt's house. The women would get up at 5am to start cooking every thing. At around 9am when the whole house was up, my aunt would make chocolate gravy and biscuits for everyone. The men would then sit around and watch football, and the kids and teenagers would be upstairs playing video games, watching movies, etc. It would be an all day event for us, snacks through out the day, and then a massive meal of turkey, ham, mashed taters, different kinds of gravy, waldorf salad, regular salad, fruit salad, corn, sweet taters, and the list goes on and this doesn't even include at least 5 different pies for dessert. Before dinner, we would always form a circle around the table and hold hands and my grandfather would lead us in saying grace.

Then for Christmas, we would have Christmas Eve at our own house, and we would always open just 1 present after dinner that night, just to tie us over till morning. Then we would go to bed, and wait for Santa to come. Around 4am my sister always wakes me up, and I send her to grab our stockings out of the livingroom and bring them to me in my bedroom. We would go through them, see what we got, and then repack them so that we wouldn't get caught, even though dad always knew what we where doing. Then her and I would go back to sleep in my room for an hour or two until it was okay to wake our parents up. I love opening presents, but what I love even more, is seeing everyone's reaction to what I got them. I love buying stuff for people, it brings me a lot of joy. Then we would pack up all that we want to bring with us, and make the drive up to the Bay Area to spend it with the rest of the family, and its a repeat of Thanksgiving, except with presents involved after dinner.

Now it is different. There is no gift exchange with the extended family. We have lost some family members of the years, and it has changed the dynamics of it all. We still get together and have a dinner for each holiday, however its on a much smaller scale now and while we all enjoy each others presence, it has a tone of sadness to it as well.

I however now have the pleasure of spending the holidays with my partner's family too. Her family has a big mexican dinner on Christmas Eve and that is something new for me, and I enjoy spending the time with her family. This year, I am hoping that since my dad and my sister and now my nephew will all be here, that perhaps we can mix everyone together Christmas morning at our home, but either way, this year I am getting to spend a lot of precious moments with family that I love.

[skeeter_01]

i like the holidays...however....I work every thanksgiving because tgiving and the day after are both paid holidays.

i work every xmas cause i don't have kids and i think that people with kids should get to spend that day with their family...

my holiday is NYE...i LOVE to go out and dance and party...and then NY day sit all day and watch football....

skeet

[Rockinonahigh]

Like most of you I work on the hollidays cause my job is in food service(i'm a chef) but its all good for me,I feel the folks who have kids and family should spend the time with them if possable.One good thing about working the hollidays is the extra $$,more pto's,plus I get to pick what other days of and vacation time I want.For me christmas isnt about me geting a present cause I like to see the smiles on ppls faces when they open what they get,the good times they get to be with family or enjoying the partys or meals I fix.This year im bakeing things for the ppl on my list,grand kids included..last time they came by they are there way thrue 3 dozen of my special pecan,honey tosted almonds,darkand white chocolate chip cookies.One thiung that bugs me about the christmas holidays is the ppl who just look at it for what they can get..maybe one day they will get smart.

[sweetbutch26]

halloween is my favorite time of year. i love being around friends and family and sharing a few laughs. same with thanksgiving and christmas. except for thanksgiving and christmas i eat until i can't move then eat some more LoL being around people that are most important is always a great thing

[Rockinonahigh]

Yep,its about to be that time of the year again,hollidays and more hollidays.First im going to let my son do the candy hand out this year while I go to an adult halloween party,I already bought some really cool and unuseal candy with a spooky theam..the little ones shoule like candy hands,eye balls,witches hats ect..ect so its should be fun all around.Come on folks what are your plands???