It’s time for a change in Holiday Traditions. Too much labor and time spend worrying about where to go and what to do over Holiday Weeks like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years has been spent, and far too many tears of frustration cried as a result. Folks with unpleasable family members take note… before diving in to the holiday mayhem this decade, consider making new traditions of your own.
In our case, childless and without grandkids — and with elderly relatives who are not particularly interest in celebrating or deviating from their daily solo routines — making grand sweeping gestures to make relatives who really don’t like us feel included in our life simply upsets all of them and leaves us for the poorer as well as feeling dejected.
So, we have come to the decision to take our life as well as our own Holiday Spirit back.
For Thanksgiving a Turkey will indeed be cooked. Except this year it will be done on a Sunday when we are home from a short vacation.
We are in a fortunate position that our pet sitter doesn’t celebrate the holidays so we’re taking advantage of the opportunity to trade the pet sitter a mini staycation at our place tending to our kitty cat… and we are taking the Service Dog with to a Pet-Friendly Resort with a pool.
If the visit goes well and we like the facility, we’ve already got reservations in place for a much longer stay over the Christmas Eve and Christmas day holidays.
We are blessed to live near a big city and will rely on Uber Eats more than likely and on Room Service to bring us our meals…
and we will do what we always do when we travel. Namely make something awesome ahead to picnic and snack on that is gluten free just in case there are no gluten free menus or gluten free restaurants available over the busy evenings.
Having Turkey with Sage Dressing is always a treat. Thanksgiving will be different at a hotel, but any wore we feel missing the time sensitive meal on the actual holiday day will be abated by popping a Turkey Breast in the oven to cook while doing our post trip clean up and unpacking.
Cranberry Sauce will still be made… but it will be put together and left to chill before we leave for our Thanksgiving trip. That way it will be ready to give folks as a gift as is necessary to share with other folks… but we will have it available for our post Thanksgiving feast as well as for snacking though the holidays.
I admit to making amazing Cranberry Sauce that’s wonderful on Turkey, Pork, Chicken, and Beef. It’s also great layered into pastries as well as schmeared over gluten free bread with some Cream Cheese.
For Christmas I asked my husband to grill London Broil to take to the hotel.
For New Years it’s a toss up regarding treats for the nights — New Years Eve maybe a Homemade Lasagna and a Standing Rib Roast for New Years Day? Those are the dishes I usually like to make for Christmas Eve meal or for Christmas Dinner.
Church?
Midnight Mass I tend to prefer with others at Unity Church. But as I hit age 40 and health began to decline, attending such events with others guarantees me the flu or some other seasonal malady.
As such, we’ll be watching Christmas Eve Mass and services from the comfort and safety of our hotel room. Obviously, we wish we could watch live footage — which many smaller churches do not offer. So, we’ll check YouTube by key term when the time comes and pop on a service and will from the comfort of our bed snuggle sing along.
On New Years Eve we like to avoid driving. As such, we’ll likely do all our grocery shopping around the 28th to 30th to keep ourselves busy.
That week between Christmas and New Years we will bake. Christmas Cookies we will make ahead to decorate as an activity New Years Eve.
We might bake or buy Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie or Gluten Free Pumpkin Cheesecake to take along with us to the hotel for both holidays.
I will also bake something like Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread to take with us to snack on as well as for early morning breakfast treats on any day we choose (in our case) to venture out of our room to explore the city.
Gifts are the only last thing to discuss — and to cover our bases we sent all of the Family members who cannot travel to see us as well as people we love and like early gifts. Those dollars we normally spend running around shopping for the perfect item? Already d-o-n-e.
2025 gals age thirty to ninety got “Scrunch Butt Leggings”, an assortment of clothing pieces in colors to pair with staple wardrobe items that are soft and classic trending, favorite snacks, beads and baubles, jewelry sets to update to modern style looks, clothes suitable for hot flashes, make up, hair accessories, purses, lightweight luggage suitable for overnight trips to a resort or hospital, books fun to read, candy and chocolate and goodies galore like favorite cakes and cookies, savory snacks, and (my favorite)… Satin Lined Cashmere Sleeping Caps.
Both sexes got scarves with pockets and puzzle books.
Those who have little to no room for stuff or anyone to help them decorate got a pop up tree and tiny ornaments to decorate. They even got scarves to convert to a tree skirt — and ornament colors were sent in red and orange with Dried Oranges and Cinnamon Sticks to use as seasonal theme scented Thanksgiving through Christmas use decorations.
Some got light ceiling projectors. I am to the point in my life I keep them on in my house all the time. Some also have speakers and can read Audiobooks to seniors with tired eyes. Others have Ambient Birdsong and Ocean Waves — my electronic comfort items of preference.
When actual Christmas comes we will send dinner by Uber Eats or something food fun for pleasure to whomever has no one to share a meal with them. This year, that’s us… as well as some of them.
We try so hard to ensure everyone feels loved. This year it’s time to share some of that compassion this time with ourselves.
And to all the folks with big happy families who love you and like you, congratulations! What a wonderful gift to share time with those who appreciate the festivities loved ones are meant to share as time spent together during memory making seasons.
We’ll be floating around in a heated indoor pool and enjoying all we are not doing. But we will certainly be thinking of you wherever you are knowing if it was meant to be for us to be included in your life or world anymore over a holiday… this year, especially, we would have been.
Which leads me to my final thought on the matters at hand. Namely, who do you invite to your table at Holidays — for what reason and why.
If you cannot answer that question readily with a smile, consider make new Holiday Traditions that include care for yourself.
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