Comments:

1. We are lucky in that both sets of our parents live close. My parents are about 15 minutes away and his are about 20 so it's easy to make it to see all of our family during the holidays.
   
   After we were married, we started alternating years on whose house we were at on the actual day. So, if we are at my mom and dad's Christmas morning, we will do Christmas with his family on Christmas Eve. Then the next year we'll switch. The same with Thanksgiving. Usually we work with our extended families to have something with them on either Friday or Saturday for whichever side we didn't do Thanksgiving Day with.
   
   We both do a lot with our extended families - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. It's been a long time since my moms family has been together with all of us there. My mom is one of five and there are 14 grandkids (5 are married) and 8 great-grandkids. So, trying to get everyone in one place at one time is a pretty big deal. That's my mom's side. My dad's side is absolutely HUGE. Grandma was 1 of 11. Now there are in-laws and out-laws and more people than you can shake a stick at. We don't do much with that side of the family. My mom and dad go to stuff most years on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we usually on go to Easter.
   
   DH family doesn't have as many people so it's not as hard. His mom only has one brother. He is married but they don't have kids. DH has an older bro that is married with a child. And, a younger bro that is a freshman in college. So, there are only 14 of us to get in one place and 10 of us live within 20 minutes of each other.
   
   Also, on Christmas day, after we have gone to whichever side on Christmas morning, we go to DH's grandparents about 2 hours away. This has been a tradition in his family for a long, long time. We stay all night and then get up early and do day-after shopping. It's not as easy with the kids but it's still fun. We all meet up for lunch too.
   
   We do put up a tree. The first year, J was nearly a year old but pretty much left it alone. Last year, he was more curious and actually took a couple of ornaments off the tree. L wasn't big enough to mess with it. I'm not for sure how they'll do this year. I imagine it will a challenge. We don't really do a lot of other decoratin so the tree is our main concern. We go to a tree farm on Thanksgiving weekend and pick and cut our tree.
   
   Well, that was a novel!!      by CC21
   
2. We try and trade, but last year Barrett messed us up by being born right before Thanksgiving instead of Christmas, so we didn't go anywhere. My parents came to my house and made us dinner. That was nice.
   
   My mom has started doing Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday because my brother usually has to work on Thanksgiving. DH's family has a huge extended family dinner in a nearby city so I get to go to both, which is fun.
   
   I'm interested to hear how people keep their kids out of the decorations. I had such a beautiful Christmas tree last year, and I always put it up right after Thanksgiving. But I'm afraid this year B will knock it over.      by B'sgirl
   
3. Good Q's C. I have no desire to be w/ T's family on a regular day much less during the holidays. I know it will be one big fight.
   D's first Christmas he was 10 months old. He would sneak up to the tree in his walker, look around, grab an ornament, and run to his room as fast as he could I have pics of my tree that was decorated until the point where D could reach and from there down it was bald.
   I am not into decorating much. I do put up a tree but I usually wait until about 2 weeks before Christmas and then yank it down Christmas morning *we do the gift opening on Christmas Eve and a dinner on C-mas day*.
   The only C-mas tradition I can think of....every single year since I can remember my Mom would drag out the tree....my dad would start bitching about it. He sits in his recliner and gripes the whole time mom puts it up. After the tree is decorated I rearrange all the ornaments. She puts all the pretty ones in the back of the tree      by HeavenLeigh
   
4. We usually have a big dinner for Thanksgiving with my family. My husband's family is not very close so they may or may not get together. If they do, then they have it on Friday instead of Thursday, and we'll go. For Christmas, we always open gifts with my mom, brother, and neice on Christmas Eve. It's usually at my our house, and I make a nice dinner for us before we tear into the presents. Christmas morning we go to my inlaws and have breakfast and open gifts. We stay there until about noon or 1pm, then we head over to my aunt's house for the afternoon. It's quite a whirlwind but I wouldn't miss spending time with both families if I can help it.
   
   As for the decorations... hmmm. Last year the girls were still so little that they couldn't get into them. This year I've decided that I'm putting the tree up downstairs. Since the livingroom upstairs is pretty much their playroom. We are going to put it up in a corner and arrange some furniture blockades. And hope for the best. We'll see how they do. I usually put out lots of other decor, but I'm not going to this year because I don't feel like going to battle with the girls and their curiousity. My day would be nothing but NO NO's and I don't have the desire to go there. So maybe when they are a few years older we can try again.      by Twin Momma
   
5. I knew holidays were going to be a big fight. T has "decided" to take E to his mom's for T-giving and C-mas. I have decided over my dead body. Last T-giving she was selling drugs while we were there. Uh, no. If he wants to go, fine....he can go all by himself. If the Mommy situation doesn't clear up soon I'm going to draw up emergency sole custody papers. T's name is on the birth certificate and we don't have a custody agreement--which means in the state of KY if he decides to pack up E and his belongings and leave there is nothing the police can do about it. I would have to go thru the courts to get him back. Actually I would go thru a hitman and wouldn't ever worry about it again.      by HeavenLeigh
   
6. Krysti!
   
   For us, we run ourselves ragged.. i totally hate it.
   
   TG is at least 2 dinners on that day, not to mention travel time (we live an hour from either side, and they live an hour, hour and half apart)
   
   XMAS... C's family has a huge family thing 2 weeks before christmas, a christmas eve tradition, and christmas night. I've gotten snide comments said to me in the past about not screwing with the traditions. Last Christmas morning my mom came over to watch A open his gifts, Christmas eve day we did XMAS with her and my brother and his fmaily. A few days before we did XMAS with my dad at a big holiday party he threw. XMAS day my brother's famiyl stayed home until that evening, and then they went to moms (all her family gets together that night... I've missed it for the last 3 Christmases)
   
   I hate all of it honestly.
   
   I love CHristmas but not the travel times and the schedules and peopel gettign mad about us leavign early... and the baby was in a foul mood last year because his schedule was screwed for liek 2 weeks
   
   This year I decided no decorations.. Andy is hell on wheels with everythign and i don't want him breaking all my stuff. He is too stubborn to leave it alone, so why tempt him? If we had a room i could gate off and still enjoy the tree I would put it up but we have an open floor plan I have tons of decorations and some didn't get used last year because DH was being mean and wouldn't help me do outdoor ones.
   *sigh*
   Hopefully next XMAS I can reason with DS and keep him out of it.      by pink_elephant
   
7. That's another thing I hate about holidays. Everyone wants everyone to be nice and do this and that with them and noone else. Hell if I can't stand to be in the same room with a person 364 days out of the year I sure have no desire to suck it up for the sake of Christmas and pretend to be all lovey dovey.
   
   My Mom ALWAYS cooks a big T-day and C-day meal. I am the only child so it's just me, D, T, and my parents. It's pointless and nuts because so much is wasted. If my mind don't change I'm going to bow out this year unless I can convince her to let me treat them to dinner out. We have a huge extended family but never get together with them since my Mamaw died 12 years ago. I would love to do that again...maybe I'll see who is game. If not, I would love to start my own traditions with my own kids. I have wanted to take stuffed animals to the cancer ward at a children's hospital for years now. I may do that this year.      by HeavenLeigh
   
8. We all live in the same town, so that makes visiting everyone easy. Plus we're kind of the blacksheep of bothour families, so we don't have any many family members that want to visit us. LOL      by Summerm
   
9. We have nothing to do with B’s family, so that’s not an issue. We always have to wait until the last minute to find out what my brother and SIL are doing, though. She has a big family, and they are big on tradition and HUGE holiday gatherings. They are also not great at planning/organization as a whole, so my brother never knows what’s going on.
   
   We put the tree up on a card table for N’s first Christmas and maybe her second as well. I can’t remember for sure. After that, we just taught her that it’s not for touching (as well as the other decorations), and she was fine. Hopefully A is that obedient, too.
   
   Decorations go up right after Thanksgiving. That weekend if we’re home and get to it or as soon as possible afterwards. I figure if I’m going to go to that much work, they’re going to be up for longer than a week or two!
   
   Traditions we have include – playing games as a family, leftovers after the big holiday dinners (no cooking, woo hoo!), making Christmas cookies, reading Christmas stories (my family did this, but B and I have added buying a new family Christmas book each year), and each child getting to choose one ornament every year. When they grow up and leave home (sniff, sniff), they will take their ornaments with them and not have to have a naked tree to start with. My parents did that, and I loved it. B wants to sing carols every year.      by Margarita