Blended Family Holiday Traditions
Confession: I LOVE the holidays. Pretty much the entire season between the week before Thanksgiving and New Year’s day is my jam. That said, I won’t listen to Christmas music until December, and we still haven’t figured out getting a Christmas tree. But it’s a wonderful time of year for me.
Now, a large part of my love for the holidays stems from my parents and the traditions they created for my sister and me growing up.
But over the last few years, we’ve been breaking with those traditions in the name of relationship compromise, and while I know it’s the healthy thing to do, it’s got me down. If I had my way, we’d spend all the holidays with my folks.
Side note: It’s interesting. My parents’ method of compromising on holidays was to completely break from tradition, not visit family, and do the holidays together in Chicago, just the four of us and assorted friends. They were able to build some impressive traditions for us as kids, including Christmas caroling parties, trips to the winter-decorated zoo, ice skating, gingerbread house making, volunteer work, and “Santa” bringing the tree on Christmas Eve.

Mr. W knows I’m struggling—he’s super sensitive to it. But at the same time, he wants to do things with his family, and I get it. He’s a stellar dad, and it’s one of the things I love about him.
Now, we’ve tried a few things in the ...