Helen, you’re fortunate that your parents are able to come over to visit you and your family often. Are your in-laws able to do so as well? I would think one of the toughest things about living in a country where you weren’t born would be having so much distance from your family (though for some people that’s probably a good thing!).
We will be hosting a Christmas seafood dinner for my Italian in-laws this year and my brother will be visiting from New York.
Karen, my mother lives on the East Coast so it’s not so far for her…but yes, all the grandparents are able to visit here regularly. And we usually get together with my brothers’ families and my parents once a year. It would be hard if we weren’t able to do that. My father and brothers families will be together in England over Christmas, as usual.
A Christmas seafood dinner sounds interesting! I hope you all have fun together.
My mom arrives tomorrow & will stay until 12/26. We spend most of Christmas Day with my husband’s sister & her family, his parents, & his aunt (my mom comes to that, too).
My UU church is holding several special events this weekend. I’m not going to go to the Christmas Eve evening service, but do hope to attend the Winter Solstice Celebration tomorrow night and their first-ever Saturnalia Celebration at the Sunday Service on 12/23. My mom expressed interest in coming to these, which kind of surprised me (but is great!). She came with me one Sunday a month or two ago & seemed pleasantly surprised. (I went to the Solstice Celebration last year - it was packed, & featured beautiful choral music from a number of cultures & traditions, and the minister accidentally and spectacularly melted a pewter dish he was trying to use to hold fire - the kids all really liked that part!)
My son is fretting about how many days he still has to wait to open presents - other people’s kids must be getting excited, too!
I’m heading up to Western PA tomorrow to visit my family. My parents live there; my sister and BIL from Maine will be there and my brother and SIL are only 20 minutes away.
I’ll head home 12/27 and Connie and I will have a few quiet days together before heading up to North Jersey to stay with friends for a few days.
My parents will have a huge live tree, as will my brother. We don’t have anything here; partially due to laziness, partially due to not wanting to try and protect a tree from 2 cats and a dog, LOL.
I may go to church with a friend Christmas Eve.
I’m very excited; my employer is closed all week and I’ve never had this treat before!
Eliza, I’m glad your mother is interested in going to the Celebrations with you. If your son is going I hope he realizes the dish melting probably won’t happen again! My children are glad Christmas is relatively near the beginning of their two week break (their last day of school is today) so they don’t have several days of vacation before opening presents.
I’m not planning to go to any services this year. Last year I went to a local episopal Christmas Eve morning service with my mother-in-law who wanted to hear some traditional carols. Unfortunately they sang a selection of strictly ‘Advent’ hymns she didn’t know. We probably chose the wrong service to attend - one of their others might have had more well-known carols in. Anyway it was somewhat interesting since I’d never been to that church before.
Doreen, it’s wonderful you get the whole week off! I hope you enjoy the break. I wish my husband had the whole week off - he has sometimes been able to do that but this year he is too busy. At least he has the four day weekend.
Comment by: Karen
1Helen, you’re fortunate that your parents are able to come over to visit you and your family often. Are your in-laws able to do so as well? I would think one of the toughest things about living in a country where you weren’t born would be having so much distance from your family (though for some people that’s probably a good thing!).
We will be hosting a Christmas seafood dinner for my Italian in-laws this year and my brother will be visiting from New York.
Comment by: Helen
2Karen, my mother lives on the East Coast so it’s not so far for her…but yes, all the grandparents are able to visit here regularly. And we usually get together with my brothers’ families and my parents once a year. It would be hard if we weren’t able to do that. My father and brothers families will be together in England over Christmas, as usual.
A Christmas seafood dinner sounds interesting! I hope you all have fun together.
Comment by: Eliza
3My mom arrives tomorrow & will stay until 12/26. We spend most of Christmas Day with my husband’s sister & her family, his parents, & his aunt (my mom comes to that, too).
My UU church is holding several special events this weekend. I’m not going to go to the Christmas Eve evening service, but do hope to attend the Winter Solstice Celebration tomorrow night and their first-ever Saturnalia Celebration at the Sunday Service on 12/23. My mom expressed interest in coming to these, which kind of surprised me (but is great!). She came with me one Sunday a month or two ago & seemed pleasantly surprised. (I went to the Solstice Celebration last year - it was packed, & featured beautiful choral music from a number of cultures & traditions, and the minister accidentally and spectacularly melted a pewter dish he was trying to use to hold fire - the kids all really liked that part!)
My son is fretting about how many days he still has to wait to open presents - other people’s kids must be getting excited, too!
Comment by: Doreen A Mannion
4I’m heading up to Western PA tomorrow to visit my family. My parents live there; my sister and BIL from Maine will be there and my brother and SIL are only 20 minutes away.
I’ll head home 12/27 and Connie and I will have a few quiet days together before heading up to North Jersey to stay with friends for a few days.
My parents will have a huge live tree, as will my brother. We don’t have anything here; partially due to laziness, partially due to not wanting to try and protect a tree from 2 cats and a dog, LOL.
I may go to church with a friend Christmas Eve.
I’m very excited; my employer is closed all week and I’ve never had this treat before!
Comment by: Helen
5Eliza, I’m glad your mother is interested in going to the Celebrations with you. If your son is going I hope he realizes the dish melting probably won’t happen again! My children are glad Christmas is relatively near the beginning of their two week break (their last day of school is today) so they don’t have several days of vacation before opening presents.
I’m not planning to go to any services this year. Last year I went to a local episopal Christmas Eve morning service with my mother-in-law who wanted to hear some traditional carols. Unfortunately they sang a selection of strictly ‘Advent’ hymns she didn’t know. We probably chose the wrong service to attend - one of their others might have had more well-known carols in. Anyway it was somewhat interesting since I’d never been to that church before.
Doreen, it’s wonderful you get the whole week off! I hope you enjoy the break. I wish my husband had the whole week off - he has sometimes been able to do that but this year he is too busy. At least he has the four day weekend.