Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to come up with creative ways to split
Speaker 1: the holidays. If you have a big family, Inevitably some
Speaker 1: folks are going to need or want to spend holidays
Speaker 1: with other sides of the family. But if you plan well,
Speaker 1: you might be able to see everyone and avoid bad
Speaker 1: feelings too. If you have a partner, it is possible
Speaker 1: that you live near both sides of your family, or
Speaker 1: maybe one family loves to celebrate Thanksgiving while another leans
Speaker 1: more into Christmas or another religious holiday. If so, that
Speaker 1: is great, but many families wind up in more complicated situations.
Speaker 1: Two sets of grandparents are many hours away from each
Speaker 1: other and both want their whole broods under their roofs.
Speaker 1: Or maybe one particular family member can't or won't travel
Speaker 1: or has to work on the holiday itself, which means
Speaker 1: that people more often than not wind up going to them.
Speaker 1: That means these travelers don't get to spend holiday time
Speaker 1: at home, which many people like to do too. You
Speaker 1: can alternate doing Christmas and Thanksgiving with each side of
Speaker 1: the family, But what if another set of siblings is
Speaker 1: on a different schedule, then you are never seeing them. Ideally,
Speaker 1: everyone is accommodating, but that doesn't always happen. It can
Speaker 1: lead to hard feelings. But I recently heard an idea
Speaker 1: which I find in intriguing and is a good one
Speaker 1: for the matriarch or patriarch of a far flung or
Speaker 1: big family to implement. That is, you establish a holiday
Speaker 1: gathering time that is not Thanksgiving or Christmas. You all
Speaker 1: gather on your family's particular celebration day, but that leaves
Speaker 1: the other days open for families who wish or need
Speaker 1: to celebrate with their other side of the family, or
Speaker 1: who'd like to stay home. Your family celebration day could
Speaker 1: still be around the holidays. For instance, you could host
Speaker 1: your big holiday gathering on a mid December weekend. You
Speaker 1: all gather on, say December seventeenth. People might need to
Speaker 1: take a day or two off work to travel, but
Speaker 1: maybe not too many days. And in any case, for
Speaker 1: folks who work in say law enforcement or at a hospital,
Speaker 1: it might be easier to request the days around decem
Speaker 1: Umber seventeenth off than an actual holiday. You can all
Speaker 1: celebrate and then people can spend Christmas or Thanksgiving at
Speaker 1: home or with other relatives if they wish, or those
Speaker 1: who are available can gather again if they want to.
Speaker 1: More family time, fewer bad feelings now. To be sure,
Speaker 1: there are often a lot of office parties and kid
Speaker 1: Christmas events and such on December weekends, So to make
Speaker 1: this even easier on people, you might host your holiday
Speaker 1: gathering the weekend after New Year's whatever that happens to be.
Speaker 1: I will note that the twelve days of Christmas actually
Speaker 1: happen after Christmas, extending to January sixth. Many places still
Speaker 1: have their lights up, and it might be easier to
Speaker 1: get tickets if you are the frugal sort. I'd note
Speaker 1: that having a family holiday party around January sixth means
Speaker 1: you've got a week of shopping time available during the
Speaker 1: biggest sales of the year. How much of a win
Speaker 1: is that, plus you stretch out the fun. January can
Speaker 1: be bleary in many places, having a big celebration to
Speaker 1: look forward to pushes any doldrums off a few weeks
Speaker 1: closer to spring. So if you've got a big family
Speaker 1: you'd like to see, and many of your family members
Speaker 1: have other sides of the family that they need or want,
Speaker 1: to see. Then consider instituting a non holiday holiday. The
Speaker 1: holidays are more about spending time with loved ones than
Speaker 1: the actual dates themselves. If you can arrange to spend
Speaker 1: time with your whole family without causing tough choices, that's
Speaker 1: really a huge present you are giving to everyone. It
Speaker 1: is definitely better than another tie. In the meantime, This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for and here's to making the most
Speaker 1: of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: Breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
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