Hosting

If it were me and I had family coming into town for a visit for the holidays, especially for Christmas, and that family happened to have two young kids who want to have a magical Christmas with Santa, family and gifts... If I was the one hosting, knowing that the family spent a lot of money for plane tickets to see me, and that traveling with two young kids is always very challenging... If it were my family members going through all that trouble to visit me...

... Well simply put, I'd try to do everything I could to help make the trip easier for them. Knowing that they have a lot to carry through the airport... two car seats, luggage AND two wiggly, hopefully cheerful, but most likely not, children... let alone Christmas presents... and acknowledging that they would have to pay for shipping of Christmas presents ordered online regardless... and that they are arriving on Christmas Eve and probably won't have time to arrange for the getting anything done in town... I would totally expect them to ship the presents to my house. I may not know when I would get around to wrapping them, but I would do it even if it meant requesting that they send the presents soon so that I could be sure I'd have plenty of time to wrap them. It would make things easier for my visiters. There is nothing much I could do to ease their load for their return trip home, but I would not see any point in them needing to drag all the gifts through the airport in BOTH directions.

But that's just me. Just saying.

Christmas is all about the... treats?

I realize that this blog has become a place where I vent about my mother and my sister. This post is no exception, though in my defense it fascinates me to see how my sister is developing her own "family" and the decisions she makes along the way.

Christmas has always been my sister's favorite time of the year (something we both have in common). She loves the decorations, the warm apple cider, the presents, the lights, the baking... She loves it all. In fact, she has a dozen versions of the song "It's the most wonderful time of the year." I kid you not.

So it comes as a surprise to me that this year she has decided to NOT celebrate Christmas. In fact, she said she'll only join us if it's convenient. Instead, she is going to celebrate Hanukkah because her boyfriend is Jewish.

I think it's great that he's Jewish. I always assumed it would be a wonderful opportunity for them to expose their children to different holidays and traditions. But instead of doing that, my sister is giving up her beloved Christmas. It's not even like he's insisting. I don't think he really cares.

But when she told me, she came across as having a rebelous teenage attitude about it. Almost like she was saying "Look what I'm doing and there is nothing you can say about it! So neener neener." I know plenty of teenagers who use the word Neener. lol.

We all change for the people we want to be with, but how much have you changed? Would you give up your favorite holiday season for the one you loved? Would you do it even if he didn't care much one way or the other?