So we did Thanksgiving our way I agreed to give a little on Thanksgiving, it was just the two of us so we agreed to go over on Christmas Eve. This was huge for me after how horrible the first Christmas with his family I really was not looking forward to it. I did agree to go to try to keep peace I do think back now and wish I had not.
My mother – in-law loved hosting the holidays; she had done this since her kids were little and she was going to continue until she is no longer able to. I hear this speech every year when I mention doing them different. She had a set menu, a set time for the festivities to start and there was no room for any variation. The women folk were to help in the kitchen while the men sat and relaxed. The women would eat at the table while the men ate in the living room. This is not how my holidays ever had been and I really had no desire to become this kind of a family.
My new extended family would eat and pass out Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve and then open stockings and a present or two on Christmas Day. This is just not how we did it and it was not a comfortable way for me to do it. I don’t like having people watch me while I open gifts, waiting to see the expression on my face. I really just wanted to curl up in front of the fireplace with my husband and drink cocoa. I am just glad that his family did not have me crying on Christmas Eve like they did last year.
When I was growing up we would have a bunch of finger foods and snacks, watch Christmas movies, drink hot cocoa and open one present on Christmas Eve. The present always was Christmas pajama’s that we would run and put on to finish watching the movie so we could go to sleep for Santa to visit. OK so I was not expecting a visit from the guy in the bid red suit but I really did want the Christmas Eves’ of my childhood.