The Year Christmas Changed Forever
When my husand I first got married we agreed that we would drive 3 hours to spend Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day with his family and then we would make the 4 hour drive to my parent’s house and spend Christmas night and a few of the following days with them. It was a little hectic the two years that we “did Christmas” with everyone but it worked out pretty well.
We had been married for 2.5 years when our oldest child was born. About 2 months after he was born we moved to the same town as my husband’s family. In fact, we lived with his parents for a couple of years while we built our house. So, for our 3rd Christmas together, all we had to do on Christmas Eve is walk up the stairs to join my husband’s siblings in the living room. Our baby was 8 months old that first Christmas and we enjoyed celebrating with his grandparents and aunts and uncles on my husband’s side of the family.
On Christmas morning, we stayed in our area downstairs so we could have Christmas morning just with our family of 3. Playing Santa for the first time was so much fun! Our son loved his toys and looking at all the Christmas decorations.
If only we had thought ahead about our travel plans! Of course, we assumed we would just pack up and leave to go see the other side of the family on Christmas Day. So, instead of just enjoying the day at home with our baby, we frantically packed the car with our suitcases, gifts for my parents and sister, ourselves and our baby…and all the baby’s things that we absolutely could not fathom living without. I am not sure how we fit it all in the car!
The drive wasn’t too bad and we enjoyed our time with my side of the family. And yet..things felt rushed. We didn’t feel like we had time to enjoy to the magic and sacredness of Christmas Day. We knew then that Christmas was going to look different for us and our children from that point on. We decided we would start spending Christmas Day at home.
We still make the 5 min drive to join in the Christmas Eve party at my inlaws but we are back at home early enough to make sure everyone is snug in their bed and dreaming of sugarplums. On Christmas morning, my husband and I wake up and drink coffee. Our three teenagers eventually wake up and sleepily stumble into the living room (far different from when they were little and would just take about take flight with all their excitement!). We take a moment to see what Santa brought and then everyone takes a look at their stockings. Then we pause for a slow breakfast and follow that with our family gift exchange. The rest of the day is spent in jammies, reading, gaming, watching Christmas movies, and snacking all day. We like to end the night with a fancy dinner of Digiorno pepperoni pizzas.
Of course, I know that Christmas Day will change for us once again as the kids grow up and have famlies of their own. I hope I can give everyone the same grace my parents gave me by being so understanding about not wanting to travel on Christmas. We now celebrate with them one of the first weekends in December.
If this is your baby’s first Christmas, it’s ok to want to start new traditions. It is ok to not want to travel. It is also ok to create memories just in your own little family unit. Christmas Day can just be for you and your partner and your kids. You’ll never regret making those Christmas Day memories.