I was reading Ms. Cheese's post about establishing new holiday traditions and wished we had thought of doing something similar. I think our problem is that we merged our family traditions together a few years ago and not celebrating the holidays the way we normally do would seem strange -- like something was missing.
Christmas is a huge deal in my family. My Grandma's birthday was on December 24th and we always threw a merged Christmas/birthday party on the 24th. My mom has 4 sisters and 2 brothers, so that makes for lots of people (including lots of cousins), lots of food and lots of noise. When Mr. Papaya Dog came to his first Christmas with my family, well, let's just say he was more than a little overwhelmed. He celebrates Christmas with just his parents, his brother and his sister-in-law. They have a nice Christmas breakfast followed by presents and gingerbread house making, then a huge Christmas dinner. It's a lot different than 30 people yelling (in a nice way) in 2 or 3 different languages across the room.
Mr. Papaya Dog has adapted nicely. He loves the food and is getting used to the noise though he always points out he was the tallest person at the party. Filipinos are not known for their height. I love his family's Christmas. It's such a nice contrast to what goes on in my family. I wouldn't trade one tradition for the other but can't imagine one without the other now.
Mr. Papaya Dog's parents moved to South Carolina a few years ago and our new tradition is spending Christmas Eve with my family and then hopping on a plane early Christmas morning to get to South Carolina in time for Christmas dinner. It's hectic, but totally worth it.
Besides the merging of Christmases, Mr.Papaya Dog and I have started are own special holiday tradition around Thanksgiving. Every year we prepare a themed thanksgiving meal. The first year we made all the traditional dishes, the second year we had Chesapeake inspired dishes (Virginia spoon bread, Old Bay Turkey), last year we did Hawaiian food (Kalua turkey, spam fried rice) and this year we had New Orleans on the table. Hawaiian was the easiest and the tastiest but they were all really great. Next year we're thinking Chinese or New Mexican. Thanksgiving is my favorite of "our" traditions.
What traditions are you merging and what traditions have you developed as a couple? Are there any you wish you could get rid of or change?
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