Holidays with the Family

The first holiday to come in the holiday season is Thanksgiving. This brings up the problem of which family to visit each year. If your families live within a fifty mile radius, it is possible to spend it with both families. The Thanksgiving meal is not always at noon anymore. Perhaps you can make arrangements with both mothers to have your traditional meal at noon one place and a lighter meal in the evening at the other. If this cannot be worked out, perhaps you could have both families at your home.

If the families live too far away, then it is going to have to be decided by determining who sees the children the least during the rest of the year. Alternately, you can spend Thanksgiving with one family and Christmas with the other. Then alternate, being sure to keep strict records of whose family you visited last Christmas. Never change the order; that can only lead to problems. Make sure your mother understands that you are trying to be fair to both.

If you cannot afford to travel and the parents cannot afford to augment your expenses, then you can have some happy times with neighbors who have the same problem or have no family to go see.

It is important to remember that Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for all our blessings, large or small. Christmas is a time to celebrate the spirit of togetherness and giving. It is important to share both of these times with those you care about.