What is your typical Thanksgiving Day like in your family? Do you have lots of family and friends around you to share the holidays? Well growing up I had twenty one cousins on each side but only my dad’s side of the family celebrated holidays. My mom’s family was Jehovah Witness’ (not my mom). So holidays for us were always very easy. We always went to my Maw and Papap’s for every holiday (my dad’s parents). All of my cousins and aunts and uncles went there too. I miss that sometimes now because my grandparents have both passed away so our once so large family has now kinda split up and we now spend it with our immediate family, my parents, my brother and his family and my husband and three sons. I wish everyone would still get together but I think my grandparents were the glue that held us all together so now my dad’s brothers and sisters spend the holidays with their children and grandchildren. But I really enjoy having a lot of family over at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We all play games and have fun and I don’t want my kids to miss out on the kind of fun I had growing up. So this year I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our home and we are having my family and my youngest son’s godparents and their kids over as well. So that alone is about sixteen people. I have also invited my husbands family which is another eight people but according to my husband they probably won;t bother coming because they don’t like big family events. They prefer to sit and eat with little to no family there at all. Which can cause a bit of a family friction in our home because I was raised in a large family and when we were dating way back when he shared with me that he and his family were also very close and he enjoyed large family events. Which is now so not the case. So I still invite his family to every event we have but they rarely show up ever. I have finally decided that my kids are more important to me and I want them raised around all their cousins and family the way I was raised and if his family doesn’t want to be included then that is on them. All I can do is try to include them but the showing up is up to them.
So what are your family holiday dinners like? Share with us your fun family traditions.
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Tags: family, holidays, Thanksgiving, thanksgiving day
November 18th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
By your saying that they don’t like “big” family events I will guess that the eight, is your husbands entire family? Whereas your is sixteen? I would probably find it a bit overwhelming too if my family was really small, trying to go somewhere to celebrate a family get together, where it was a 2 to one ratio. Try to put yourselves in their shoes. I am sure it would be hard for them to feel included in anything with those numbers.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Why should my children have to sacrifice their holiday memories just to please adults that never are around to begin with? His whole family lives in the same county we do, and yet they never call or see the kids. They remind me of holiday Catholic or Holiday Christians. Those people who never go to church accept on Easter or Christmas Eve. We enjoy being around all of those relatives and friends that are part of our everyday life when it comes to the holidays. Those we are closest to not those who only come around once a year and even then the kids are lucky if a get a card with $10 in it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the money that even bothers me. My parents give to my family on a daily/weekly basis in all little things like dinner at their house when they know we are low on groceries or just because that’s what we do every Sunday for dinner. They know what is going on the kids day to day lives because they care enough to be involved. They come tho their sporting events and school events like plays. My in laws have been to one baseball game in three years and that’s it. My father in law never even sends birthday cards to our children or my husband for that matter. They use excuses like my husbands grandparents are getting old, but it’s just an excuse. My grandmother had her legs amputated and still asked to get out of the nursing home for one last New Year’s Day to spend with our family. Because lets face it, if you don’t think you have many years left, wouldn’t you want to share it with those yo love and savor every last moment? Well I guess not everyone thinks like that. I have reached out to his family time and time again, and now he finally is at the point if they come they come, if they don’t they don’t. We will raise our children to enjoy life and share the small and big events in life with those they hold dear to their hearts.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Adults need to be adults and we all make sacrifices for our children. If his family cared enough they would come and make the best of it. My family always makes them feel especially welcome. But the rest is up to them. I don’t feel bad for feeling that way.
December 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Haven’t blooged in a while Hope your Thanksgiving worked out. Hope to see you back at some point.