Does Anyone Else...

ramstein1027

Miss Christmases/holidays from when they were little?  I find myself being soo nostalgic these days.  I grew up next door to my mom's parents and 10 minutes from my dad's parents, all my cousins were more like siblings, and holidays were so magical.  Now I only have one grandparent left, the cousins are getting married/moving away, and it's now morphing into more of a "nuclear family" holiday season.  It's still great, don't get me wrong, but I SO wish I could go back just once and walk into my (deceased) grandparents' house with the fire going and them being so excited to see us and eating a big family dinner...

I am lucky to have had the memories I do, but sometimes I feel like pouting that I can't just snap my fingers and go back!  Maybe it's because I don't have kids yet so I'm in this weird married w/o kids limbo stage?  Idk.  Christmas with DH was really great last year, I don't mean to discount it, I just wish I would have known when I was little how much I would miss those holidays!

mana8503

I just heard where are you Christmas on the radio and I'm like YES WHERE ARE YOU?!

I feel the same way!  Thanksgiving was always in NC at my mamaw's.  I have 24 first cousins and probably 10 second cousins growing up! (I think there's 56 grand/great/great-great grandkids now)  I miss it!  We'd all played football in the cow pasture after dinner, or play a tournament of some kind on the nintendo!  OHHH poker with Chirstmas cookies!  Make snowflakes out of seedbeads, so much fun just hanging out with them! 

I also only have 1 living grandparent left, and now all the families go away for the holidays so she doesn't feel the need to cook for 50-60 people.  And now I have to split my holidays with H and his family.  We do plan to go for a few nights at my mamaw's when we go down for Christmas, but it's so last minute I don't get to see everyone.  I haven't even seen all the new babies yet!  Mainly my cousin's adopted baby girl!

Christmas was always with my nuclear family in PA.  But now I barely talk to my sister and her family, and it's just a big cluster. 

I hope things will be better when we have our own kids.  Even with the stepkids, I just follow the already set traditions with MIL.  I want to share my own.

minionlover

I do every once in a while. It's really my step mom I miss. She married my dad when I was four and I always considered her my second mom. She died when I was 21. She loved Christmas and getting the family together. We still do a huge Christmas Eve but I do miss her.

brainybrunette

I definitely miss what Christmas used to be like when I was a kid. I've actually been thinking about that a lot recently because I've just been so blahhhhhh about the holiday season this year. It's probably because DH is working on Christmas this year and we have to celebrate the weekend before with our families.

I'm most upset about missing Christmas Eve with my family. I come from an Italian-American family and Christmas Eve is EVERYTHING in my family. When I was little, we did the whole 7 fishes tradition, opened ALL of our presents (except "Santa" gifts of course), everything happened on Christmas Eve. As I got older, the traditions became less and less. Now, this year, I'm missing it completely. I can't wait to bring back the old traditions when DH and I start our own family.

lehc723

In little ways, that I guess all add up. I remember as a kid that thinking that Christmas morning was like, the best, happiest I'd be all year, ever. I miss feeling like that. I miss "Christmas break" and getting to see old friends (my parents moved away from my hometown) and miss Christmas Eve at the church I grew up in. I miss not having to pay for my flight home, ha.  

snuff9861

I miss it too. We lived three hours away from my dad's parents but always spent Christmas with them. My dad's brother lives three doors down from my Memere and Pepere and his kids were like my best friends. My dad's other brother lived across the city and they would be over too. Now my one uncle is divorced and not even my Memere has seen the girls in over 3 years. My other cousins are grown, one lives in the States with her husband and kids and the other lives with his gf. We now live across the country from my dad's family and it just isn't the same. 

H's family still gets together, so I have that. But they have had a couple of deaths in the family both this year and in the last few years, so even that is starting to break down.

Bring back my childhood Christmas!

ramstein1027

Well I'm glad I'm not alone!!  I was wondering if I was just being a big baby or if other people felt this way, too.

linnae939

I feel this way too! We actually didn't have family near us growing up, and do now and do the big family thing, but I feel it's still different as a grown up. I miss more of a not waking up at my parents house on Christmas morning, with presents from santa etc. We drive there ( a whole 6 minutes away) and santa still comes! but with all the ILs and travelling, and making sure they all get to see us (we're the only sibling thats married in our familes, and they both want us all. the. time.) it's not the same. I miss staying in my jammies playing with my sweet new stuff all day!

xxjen015

I do. I'm excited to get to spend Christmas Eve at my parents house this year. There are traditions we used to have (like the stockings that I detailed in QOTD) and such that haven't happened in so long. This year my brother won't be there, he's going with his GF to visit some of her family. We always go to my Uncle's house, which we will this year, but he's moved, so it isn't even the house I'm used to. *sigh* 

We want to eventually alternate holidays with our families, but his family only travels to visit his Nana for Thanksgiving and so we go then. So we spent last year with my family and  we had to leave early because H's mom called and threw a b**** fit that we weren't going to be there for Christmas, so we leave early, get there, and she's deathly ill and can't even come down. AHH. I miss there not being multiple places we're torn between. 

consciousdear88

Absolutely.. I have too many fond memories from when I was little about being so excited to get the decorations up and getting to hang out with my sisters and family on Christmas Eve. We'd do the whole dinner and presents thing and then once everyone left, I'd get the cue to go to bed so Santa could come. It was so weird the first year where nobody came over for Christmas Eve. I actually remember feeling very sad.