Dividing our Time: Finding Solutions for the Holiday Rush

My husband and I are very thankful to have grown up in St. Louis and still have nearly all of our siblings close by. We love the fun of being involved with our families, along with great benefits like having so many babysitters in town.

One aspect of living with both sides of the family in town gets a little tricky, though, especially at this time of year. It is hard to make sure that we are spending ample time with each side of the family while still preserving some precious hours for making memories in our own home, with just our little family.

Thankfully, my parents came up with a fantastic solution about 15 years ago when my sister married and moved across the state. To help her have a low-stress holiday with her own kids and let them wake up to their own Christmas traditions, my parents decided to do their Christmas on New Year’s Day.

There are so many great things about this tradition. The first day in January is not typically a day reserved for family get-togethers, and it’s really fun that when Christmas passes, we still have a big family party coming up.

My husband and I love that this gives us a laid-back Christmas with his family. We often have a lazy day of board games and possibly even more than one meal together. Some years we have been able to make a trip down to Mississippi to visit with his extended family. It’s wonderful that we can spend time with them and not feel rushed to get to somewhere else.

One great thing about this tradition is that we never leave one set of grandparents to visit another set with crabby, exhausted kids. They are able to settle down spending time with family and when opening gifts, they are more likely to remember to say thank you and pay attention to what others are opening.

Another more practical benefit is that some of the stress of shopping for gifts is spread out a bit over another week. I think most of my siblings would report that they wait for the after-Christmas sales to grab some good deals for our family party on Jan. 1. The stress is also reduced by my mom’s focus on minimizing it with a simple meal of soup and sandwiches.

An unexpected benefit to this arrangement is that all of the aunts and uncles get to hear about what our nieces and nephews were up to the night before. It’s always comical to hear about their attempts to make the most of the night and reports of how late they slept that morning.

My parents report a slight drawback. My dad has mentioned that Christmas Day itself is not what it used to be for him and he really misses seeing his kids and grandkids on that day. I think his kids all feel a little bit of that, too. We all truly love our spouses’ families, but it doesn’t seem all that long ago that we kids were all staying up all night, crammed into one bedroom and bribing each other to go peek under the tree. Things have definitely changed.

However, while this solution isn’t ideal for my parents’ preferences, I love that they think of their kids and helping them create memories that aren’t overrun by stress. It helps make both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day favorites on my calendar.