I'm so excited for the Holidays this year! I feel like I can actually enjoy them with this new schedule. Thanksgiving we just go to MILs and my parents will come there this year too! We will probably just do a lunch with FIL that weekend sometime.
Christmas we always spend Christmas Eve at my parents with my sister, BIL and their girls. It is SO fun to be back at my parents and we open gifts all together! MIL and BIL usually come out for some of it Christmas morning and we do breakfast at my parents. We then relax and in the afternoon will make out way back to our place and do gifts with BIL and MIL. FIL likes to do a fancy Christmas brunch at a local restaurant the weekend before or after Xmas so it's nice that it's all pretty low key!
I baked mine for 7 minutes. The dough tastes great raw and you don't have to feel guilty bc there are no eggs in it. I also have a recipe for dairy free frosting that is yummy. Basically it's the vegan earth balance butter (3 tbps) almond milk (3 tbps) and powdered sugar (4 cups) plus vanilla.
We're hosting my parents and neighbors for Thanksgiving. It will be my dad's first time meeting Paige! I love to cook, and so does my mom, so I'm looking forward to planning the meal.
We're driving 10 hours to Buffalo for Christmas. I'm looking forward to seeing my extended family, but not crazy about the drive to get there. My mom is already planning P's first birthday party for when we get there. Lots of excitement over there!
I bought cranberries at the grocery store today and will be making cranberry sauce shortly. I love holiday food.
What recipe do you use? I liveccranberry sauce and tried to make it a couple of times. It was way to tart though.
I have an amazing one! I use this one mostly - I modified it based on some of the reviews. I use a 12 oz bag of cranberries, squeeze the juice from 2 oranges, and then just top with water to just cover the berries in a saucepan. Depending on the oranges and cranberries you may not use the full 2 cups of sugar, I think I use about 1 and 3/4 cups most of the time.
I have to say the best decision I ever made was as soon as Kayleigh was born, we were no longer going to be anywhere but our own house for Christmas morning. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are ours. I very much believe that should be our little time as a family opening gifts together. Plus, with little kids, I think its much easier not having to schlep a million presents back and forth or having to explain that Santa knows where you'll be, etc. We do go down Christmas afternoon to the IL's since they do a big Christmas celebration with the extended family in the evening.
I am a bit bummed that now with my parents having moved to AZ, we won't be doing any holidays with them. Granted, because my dad was a pastor, we didn't do much in the way of holidays with them unless we went to them since my dad was always working. But now the IL's technically have a monopoly on our holiday time.
Post by bantyrooster on Nov 4, 2015 7:07:24 GMT -5
xanthepants if you need a stop in Omaha you can use our house!
Holidays are crazy with two sets of divorced parents. Thanksgiving we are just doing the IL's because my niece/Goddaughter has her baptism that Sunday and we will see my whole side then. So instead of 3 extra Thanksgiving we will see them all Sunday.
We got spoiled last year as Ellison is a Dec 22nd baby. So we are starting this year no travel on the Christmas eve and not on Christmas until 12. I am so tired of people trying to fight and dictate where we stay on the holiday. So we stay home!! And if people need to have holidays on hose days that is fine! We will make it up with them later. My kids wake up here Christmas morning.
So if you are hosting Thanksgiving or making some sort of dish, what are you making? Since I'm hosting, I'm in need of some good ideas I also need to figure out how many people will be coming. I know MIL and FIL. We invited H's cousins who live nearby but I don't know if they will actually come. I also have no clue if H invited his brother and family.
All I know is right now I am going to make a Maple-Whiskey Turkey, mashed potatoes and apple pie. I need to figure out what type of veggies I am making and what type of stuffing. I also need to figure out appetizers.
Thankfully I never have to host a holiday...my house is much too small for that. For Thanksgiving we just go to my parent's house and it is very low key. The extended family isn't even coming this year so hopefully it will be less crazy. For Christmas Eve we go to my Aunt's house and then we have Christmas morning just us as a family at our own house. We will meet up with my parents usually later on in the day at another aunt's house for lunch/dinner.
My Ils will be coming the week after Christmas I think on the 29th. My H has to go back to school the week after so hopefully they will only come out for a week tops. We are also doing Cece's baptism on January 3rd which is another reason why they are coming out.
What recipe do you use? I liveccranberry sauce and tried to make it a couple of times. It was way to tart though.
I have an amazing one! I use this one mostly - I modified it based on some of the reviews. I use a 12 oz bag of cranberries, squeeze the juice from 2 oranges, and then just top with water to just cover the berries in a saucepan. Depending on the oranges and cranberries you may not use the full 2 cups of sugar, I think I use about 1 and 3/4 cups most of the time.
We will never have to host Holiday's either. Mainly because we have a dog and because we don't offer to. Also, my SIL has the best house for family gatherings and she likes to do stuff like that. I personally would not like to host. I don't do well with others at my house. Almost like they are judging me for how clean it is or I'm worried about younger kids breaking stuff. I'd be a ball of mess.
This year for Thanksgiving is going to be interesting. With my brother's retail job he hasn't ever been able to come down for it since he works both that day and Black Friday. So we've always done something with the ILs. Well, my brother got a different job out of retail and my Mom has already invited us over. Now I have to figure out if we will go there or both or what. Sometimes 2 big meals on Thanksgiving is just too much.
DH's family uses our house for their Christmas get together. It's usually the Saturday before Christmas. They bring all the food so it's not a big deal and MIL helps me clean, so I don't mind. I don't really have to do much.
Post by somethingcleverer on Nov 4, 2015 10:58:58 GMT -5
Thanksgiving is at my house but my mom comes over early and does pretty much all the cooking because she likes it her way. It's kind of annoying although it does have some perks since I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn or be tied to a stove. They've given me more control over sides this year so I'm on the hunt for some awesome side dishes that aren't mashed potatoes, green beans or stuffing. Also my parents are completely crazy about food safety like I am so I have to sneak around wiping things off with clorox wipes when they aren't looking.
I'm working Christmas Eve which sucks because it makes for such an incredibly long day. I get out at 5 and usually the afternoon is slow but with celebrating and putting toys together after bed I feel like I was run over by a truck before Christmas is even here! We do Christmas eve at my Aunt's house (she only lives 5 minutes away) and has been tradition since I was kid. Then Christmas morning is at home and we go to my parents for dinner.
I want to start hosting some holiday once we are in our next house...I feel like at some point it needs to move down to our generation...I'm just not sure when.
Plus I don't really like most of the food at the thanksgiving we are going to this year. (they don't have mashed potatos...who doesn't have mashed potatos at thanksgiving???)
We're going to see my family for Thanksgiving this year for the first time in 10 years. DH's family is much closer than mine and they have no one else to celebrate with (they've disowned their daughter and have few friends). I finally put my foot down and told DH it's my family's turn. My sister hosts and my whole family will be there. I can't wait to get all the nieces and nephews together! We'll drive up to my family's on Wednesday night (5+ hours) and home Saturday. We'll probably do a Thanksgiving with the ILs on Sunday. My mom, my sister and I will do black Friday, although we don't go to actually shop, we go to people watch. I can't wait!
DH is Jewish so I get Christmas all to myself. We do a Hanukkah thing with his family on whichever weekend Hanukkah overlaps, which will be at our house. It's just the four of us, MIL and FIL so nothing too hectic. Then we go to my parents' house for Christmas. It's my favorite time of year and the kids are SOOOOO into it. My mom used to go crazy with presents for the grandkids, but she has gotten much better and really toned things down lately. It's nice. Christmas morning is with my mom and dad at their place then everyone comes to her house so we don't have to travel. I can't wait!
I want to start hosting some holiday once we are in our next house...I feel like at some point it needs to move down to our generation...I'm just not sure when.
Plus I don't really like most of the food at the thanksgiving we are going to this year. (they don't have mashed potatos...who doesn't have mashed potatos at thanksgiving???)
I feel the same way. why did i get nice china and silverwear if i never get to use them? My H doesn't seem to care. He has always eaten at his parents so that is just the way it is in his eyes. I want to host so I can make stuff I want. One year MIL pre made dressing and froze it. She didn't warm it up completely so it was cold mush in the middle. Hork...
Thanks, paddyb, me too! DH hates to leave his parents alone on Thanksgiving, which I completely understand, but it's not fair that I don't get to see my family just because his family is nuts. He's even suggested in the past that we split up and I take one kid, he takes the other. I don't want to do that though.... most importantly I want to spend Thanksgiving with my husband and kids! I've proposed that we start alternating Thanksgivings, but I think we need to see how this year goes before we commit to anything.
Post by xanthepants on Nov 4, 2015 14:01:29 GMT -5
Yup I'm for the time to pass the baton on, or the next generation at some point gets to start taking the reigns. At the very least there should be some discussions about it from the grandparents. My mom was actually excited to pass on the cooking thing, but its' so difficult because we literally live all over the country and it's not financially feasible to travel to someone's place each year.
I agree with passing on the baton as well. Part of it for us is also we are the ones who are always having to travel everywhere. With a young family, its so much harder to do that.
We don't need to host anything either. We live 2 hours away from everyone and everyone else lives in the same town (in laws and my family). I wish they would all just come to us for some holiday, but we have to drive down to them for everything throughout the year. Our families also do not realize the inconvenience of driving 2 hours each way and not being at your own place. Both families are so used to all being so close together that they schedule multiple events for the same holiday. There is a Christmas Eve dinner at my parents and at my in laws, then they both host a breakfast and dinner on Christmas Day. That is three events for each family in two days!
This year we are taking a stand though and trying out waking up to Christmas in our own house. We are skipping all the Christmas Eve festivities and just doing the dinner at each family. We will spend Christmas night at my in laws and then drive back up on the 26th. I am hopeful that it will cut down on a lot of the stress that normally come with the holidays for us and if it does not work out we will go back to our normal routine.
Ha I'm the opposite on wanting to host. I hosted Xmas Day last year & it was exhausting! I plan to avoid hosting any big holiday for as long as possible But all our family also lives close so we don't have to travel which is nice. If we had to travel I would probably have different feelings
Ha I'm the opposite on wanting to host. I hosted Xmas Day last year & it was exhausting! I plan to avoid hosting any big holiday for as long as possible But all our family also lives close so we don't have to travel which is nice. If we had to travel I would probably have different feelings
Same here but I am not into party planning or anything like that. It does not interest me one bit. I know that once my parents get older and we stop doing the extended family thing I will most likely host but I'm not looking forward to it. Hopefully by the time it comes to that we will have a much bigger home and I can hire someone to plan it/cook for me
Ha I'm the opposite on wanting to host. I hosted Xmas Day last year & it was exhausting! I plan to avoid hosting any big holiday for as long as possible But all our family also lives close so we don't have to travel which is nice. If we had to travel I would probably have different feelings
It's so much more exhausting with small children. Planning the meal, making everything, trying to get the house clean, all while running on sleep fumes. I hope one or both kids will get the cooking gene and want to help me when they get older!
Post by xanthepants on Nov 4, 2015 16:18:55 GMT -5
Oh my mom totally hired out some of it. She'd splurge and get a cleaning lady, plus we had to massively up our chores the week before (with the threat of no santa! And then The older Sibs would be in charge of picking up a couple of goodie trays at the local restaurant and getting brunch for the kids while mom finished up Christmas eve cooking prep. We would have snow ball fights in the parks with them and it was the one time a year we got along so great with them (they were 8-10 years older than us younger 2). Hosting in my mind is a mix of farming that stuff out and making it yourself.
bliz1712 he would probably know, but I think I might hide it for awhile and take it back out in a few months so that it feels new again. He really is loving playdoh lately. I ordered his advent calendar because I couldn't resist...
Post by cookiesandwine on Nov 4, 2015 22:52:05 GMT -5
I've been contemplating hosting breakfast Christmas morning but I have so many conflicting emotions. Christmas Eve dinner is at my paternal grandparents' house, Christmas evening dinner is my mom's side extended family (usually my mom hosts but we're all in the same town as the other aunts and uncles too, so no travel), MIL hosts her extended family for lunch and my mom does Christmas morning breakfast. I'd looooove to do breakfast and just have our parents over instead of going to their houses, this would mean we could be home all day until about 4:00! But we're still living in my grandma's old house temporarily and 1) it's generally just controlled chaos with too much stuff in not enough space, plus tiny kitchen and 2) it just feels weird having Christmas in my grandma's house without her. We put a tree up last year but didn't even put ornaments on because mine are in storage and I don't want to get out my grandma's. It's just too weird and makes me too sad. I have to do a tree this year though for likes first Christmas. We'll see how many ornaments get hung
starfishy, where did you find that calendar? That looks amazing! Any idea what is in each day spot? Just a picture? Or a tool to use with the play-doh? Like a stamper or cookie cutter?
2 cans eagle brand. Take off paper. Cover cans in water and boil 3 hrs. Turn every 30 mins. Let cool then spread in extra serving graham cracker crust. Top with cool whip
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