I love Christmas. I love the traditions, the lights and the smells. I love wrapping, giving gifts, and maybe opening a few too! Before Nick and I got married we had the “holiday talk” to figure out where we were going to spend the holidays once we were married. The two main holidays that we wanted to figure out were Thanksgiving and Christmas. One helpful thing is that Canadian and American thanksgivings are a month apart. Since American thanksgiving is pretty close to Christmas we’ve decided we would always be with his family for thanksgiving. Then we would go to Canada every year for Christmas and probably stick around for New Years.
Those were the two big holidays that we cared to figure out and others like, Easter and 4th of July will just depend on what’s happening around that time of the year. It was also important for us to set the expectations early so people could plan around us. For me, having Christmas with my family was a bigger deal because it’s the only holiday I’ve never missed while being away at school. For everything else, I’ve gotten used to not being there with my family and maybe facetiming in during dinner. But Christmas is something I was always home for and I wanted to keep the similarity of that. There was no hesitation from Nick on that one either because we get to be with his family more since we live a lot closer to them.
However… this year our plan isn’t going to work. As I go through the immigration process I’m not able to leave the country. Even though it sucks, I also knew that there was a really good chance it was going to happen. I’ve been able to prepare myself for that. It’s definitely still going to be weird for me and it will probably feel a lot like how thanksgiving felt my freshman year of college. It was the first time that my whole family was together without me. I’m not much of a homebody, except when everyone is together and I feel like I’m missing out on a big event.
The first time missing out on something is the hardest and then it gets a little easier. At least for me it did. And a random weekend in November or week in August that we visit with my family becomes more meaningful than a holiday. It really doesn’t matter what time of year it is if it’s quality time together and memories are made.
We also still get to be with family and we’ll go back to Pennsylvania for Christmas this year. I’m excited to be apart of Nick's family’s traditions because otherwise I may not have gotten to experience that. It will just be an adjustment from what I’ve been used to the last 22 years of my life. But I’m always excited to celebrate Christmas, and this year is no different.
Have you ever been somewhere different for a holiday?
Have you ever been somewhere different for a holiday?
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