In normal times, we have a huge choreographed shuffle between different family events from 12/23-12/26, and I won't miss that chaos this year. Boyfriend's extended family is a lot more rigid about their traditions and it honestly makes me pretty grinchy. I like them all, but the lack of flexibility makes for more stress and less fun. My dad's side of the family is super chill and gets together for Thanksgiving in October and Christmas in January so we don't have to vie for time with other family holiday events. We just have a white elephant (with things like nice bottles of booze instead of shitty gag gifts) and a few presents for the next generation of kids. It's not at all like it was when we were little, but it's developed into a new tradition that works better for everyone now. One of my favorite traditions that I've had since childhood is the Christmas tree. We would always get it from the same place, and while my dad put the lights on the tree, my mom and my sister and I would bake cookies and make mulled cider and wine. Then we'd decorate the tree and listen to Christmas music. Now it's Boyfriend putting the lights on the tree, and the playlist has changed a little, but the cookies and mulled beverages and tree purveyors have all remained the same. I've (sort of inadvertently) imparted this tradition on both families I was a live-in nanny for, and it's fun to see the things they've held on to and the ways it's morphed into their own specific family tradition.
Does anyone have non family traditions? Before I had a wife and kids I loved Christmas. I’d spend the first half of the day with my family eating lots of awesome food. Then I’d meet up with my friends and we’d watch the seven South Park Christmas episodes while we got loaded. Then we would head to the casino to gawk at the other degenerates and gamble away our Christmas moneys. It was an amazing time. then I got married, and my wife is not a degenerate. She didn’t like that kind of thing. The holidays then began depressing the fuck out of me, because the last thing I wanted to do on my time off was traditional Christmas things. Now I have two kids and I enjoy seeing how excited they get for cookies and Christmas movies and their family.