Out of town family and holidays.

getnmarried910

If you have one side that you live near, and one that is far away, how do you handle holidays.  My family is in Michigan where I grew up, DH's is in Chicago within 10 minutes of us.  Originally DH and I alternated, but with one side, that meant we only saw some people in my dad's side every other year because they are also from OOT and only came in for Christmas and we usually spend Thanksgiving with my mom's side, also in Michigan.  We generally stay here for Easter though.  We've tried alternating, but we miss out on spending time with my family every other year, so we decided that we are going to start spending thanksgiving and Christmas there for a few years and see how that works.  MIL was not happy with us, and I understand her side of it, but at the same time, we see her at least once a week through the entire year, and Chrstmas and Thanksgiving are the only times we get to see some of my family. 

Anyone else dealing with stuff like this?

Mjmksb04

We do. Our families are each 3.5 hours away from us in the opposite sides of the state. Thanksgiving we either do on our own, or someone comes up here and we rotate Christmases, even though we see our ILs throughout the year way more than we see my side. It is tough because there are certain relatives on my side we see only at Christmas. I think something has gotta give once we have kids though because I don't like the idea that our kids will never get to sleep in their own bed on Christmas Eve. To top things off, H's parents are divorced so when we do Christmas on his side, we have to do even more shuffling and its not relaxing at all.

Future Mrs. Hogan

We do and I still don't know how to deal with it. I wish we could do what you're doing. I hate having to spend every freaking holiday with the IL's just because they're close and do big family get togethers. We always go there because my family doesn't invite everyone over it's just my mom and sisters there and so we don't go there on the holidays but celebrate the weekend before or after. I don't look forward to the holidays near as much because I have to spend it with the IL's. Hopefully we'll figure out something better. Sorry I just vented and didn't give you much advice.

MrsStubbs

My family is 1.5 hrs aways and DH's is here in town. For the past few years we have spent it with my family mostly because we do more. This year we might travel on Christmas day so we can spend time with both.

The perfect situation for me would be for MIL to have a Christmas Eve lunch and then go to my parents house after that.

getnmarried910

MrsStubbs:

My family is 1.5 hrs aways and DH's is here in town. For the past few years we have spent it with my family mostly because we do more. This year we might travel on Christmas day so we can spend time with both.

The perfect situation for me would be for MIL to have a Christmas Eve lunch and then go to my parents house after that.

If my family lived closer, doing something like that would be doable.  I actually haven't seen my parents for Christmas in 5 years because they live across the country, and that is why it's so important to me to spend time with the rest of my family.  Also, my family does more as well.  DH's family gets together for an hour, maybe two, has finger foods, some give gifts, and then it's over.  DH's family just isn't fun at holiday gatherings, and even he says that.  He enjoys my family parties more too!