How to Celebrate Joint Family Holidays

The holidays are right around the corner and many people are planning their festivities and celebrations in advance. The problem for many is choosing which family to celebrate with, or which holiday to celebrate in general. Joint family functions can be stressful for a lot of folks, especially if one family celebrates Christmas and the other Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. By tweaking simple holiday-time habits, you and your family can have a happy holiday season.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Choosing Which Family to Celebrate With

1. Plan in advance. If your wife's family has an annual Christmas Eve party at their house, plan to attend and then spend Christmas Day at your parents' house.

2. Ask both families to join together for a giant celebration. Even if your folks don't get along that great, the holiday time is the perfect chance for everyone to put aside their differences and enjoy togetherness.

3. Choose a neutral location for a holiday party, such as a hotel banquet hall or restaurant. This lightens the load on either family's back and encourages a good time, rather than the stress of preparing for another family's visit.

4. Invite friends. Nothing enhances a celebration more than friends from both sides of the family joining in on the festivities.

5. Plan an activity that celebrates both family's traditions. For example, if one side of the family loves watching home videos, show a photo montage or non-embarrassing home movies for everyone to enjoy. If the other side of the family loves arts and crafts, consider having everyone create their own, unique Christmas ornament.

Choosing Which Holiday To Celebrate

6. Decide which holiday means more to you and your spouse or family. If celebrating both is simply not an option, decide which holiday will be most joyous for your family.

7. Consider having Kwanzaa celebrations one day and a Christmas Day the next. By teaching your children the importance of diverse holidays around the world, they will be more apt to accepting those who celebrate the actual holidays.

8. Learn about a holiday that is completely foreign to you. If your husband is Jewish, for instance, consider learning the story of Hanukkah and giving each other gifts each day of the Hanukkah celebration.

9. On the other hand, if your wife is a Christian, a great way to show her you care is by attending a Christmas Eve candlelight church service with her family and friends.

Tips & Warnings

• Be amiable to relatives you normally don't get along with.
• Never plan to be somewhere and then change your plans last minute. This will only interrupt your hosts' schedule.