Seattle Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
how do you spend your holidays? do you split between parents?

we're having twins!
Re: holiday plans?
Ours get a bit busy but we have it down to a science...
Thanksgiving thursday - My fam
Thanksgiving saturday - his fam
Dec 23rd - My Dads side (call them the "johnsons"
Dec 24th - DH's family
Dec 25th
morning - My Moms side (call the the "smiths"
lunch (probably cancelled this year) - DH's family
dinner - the "johnsons" and the "smiths"
ETA - our families live pretty close to each other
Before we were married and now DH was in school - we would try to split them, we lived closer to my parents so we went there for most holidays and then used his break at Christmas to go see his family.
This year his mom is coming to see us next week - his dad couldn't take time off. My parents are coming for Thanksgiving. This will be our 3rd year in a row at home, alone on Christmas.
FWIW we both grew up in AK. My parents are still there and all my immediate family is. He grew up in AK and everyone except him moved to S. Dakota within the past 5 years. He has no ties there.
I'll be spending Christmas Eve bundled up at the Seahawks game!
For us, we don't have to worry about Thanksgiving since my family is in Canada. That leaves us out of Canadian Thanksgiving.
For Christmas, every other year we spend it with DH's family, the other year with mine. Same with New Years Day, one year here in the US, and one year in Canada.
This year Christmas is here with DH's family and a few days later we go up to Canada to spend 6 days with my family.
#1-BFP 08-22-09 ~ M/C 08-31-09 at 5 weeks 6 days
#2-BFP 08-6-11 ~ Due 04/18 ~ born via c-section April 22, 2012
My Blog
When DH and I first moved in together, we started a tradition that Christmas is always at our house. Of course anyone who wanted to could join us here.
Our families are all in California, DH's mom and my fam in NorCal, and DH's dad in SoCal, so the traveling was getting way too much for the holidays.
I always go down to play in the Nutcracker, usually the weekend before Christmas, and DH sometimes comes with as well to see his mom.
Thanksgiving we usually switch off between my parents (his mom and husband usually come to dinner at their house too) and his dad, but this year we may stay here and host since we've been pretty exhausted from wedding travel, etc.cand finances are tighter.
We alternate some holidays, and split up Christmas.
Thanksgsiving
D's family; mid afternoon dinner and drinks w/ the younger crowd at denny's after
This year we're also doing a 5k that morning, which we're hoping becomes a tradition. As a balance, we spend Easter with my family b/c there are cute kiddos.
December
We have a lot of little traditions the two of us do, mostly alone, but a few with others (Leavenworth, gingerbread house making party, etc.)
Christmas
23 Cookie making party (in honor of Gma/her birthday); Christmas ships
24 D's mom's side of the family followed by his immediate family celebration
25 Early - our little Christmas
Morning - my family's celebration in Eatonville
(followed by a quick stop at home to take care of our dog!)
Afternoon - D's family in Bellevue area
Best sound ever: baby's heartbeat! (Heard @ 10w1d)
H and I finally combined everything last year. At least most of it combined. Turkey day, my family hosts and his family joins us.
Christmas Eve morning, we do brunch with his dad and his dads GF, and her son and grandkids.
Christmas Eve my family hosts and H's mom and dad and dad's gf join us.
Christmas day my parents and sib and MIL usually spend the night with us while we cook christmas breakfast, open gifts. Then H and I head over to Moses Lake with his mom for her side of the family for Christmas Dinner.
It's not all nice and neat, but I like traveling and having different experiences throughout those days.
DH and I have never gone home for Thanksgiving (his family is in Chicago, mine is in Michigan).
Last year for Christmas we flew in to Chicago, drove straight to Detroit, spent 4 days w/ my family and then drove back to Chicago for 4 days w/ his fam. It was great for the, stressful and tiring for us.
This Thanksgiving and Christmas we are hosting our "misft" friends - friends who also don't want to travel distances home and whose families are too far away. I'm really looking forward to it, and since we aren't traveling I convinced DH that we need a real tree
my family isn't big on holidays...so h's family pretty much gets everything. we spend chinese new year with my fam though, since my fam actually celebrates it..and his doesn't.
this year, we're opting out of thanksgiving and going to pureto vallarta! and for christmas, we're going to california to visit his extended fam (we do this pretty much every year).
♥ bfp1 06/14/2011 ♥ edd 02/22/2012 ♥
♥ baby jennlin born on 02/15/2012 ♥
who says you can only wear your wedding dress once?
honeymoon bio ♥ married bio ♥ planning bio
jumped ship to the new and improved nest. back to TB for baby boards.
yay for real trees! since we spend Christmas at home together, we always go to one of the "you cut" places, take Link, and cut down our own tree!
I am so excited! My family has never had a fake tree before so i'm used to real trees, but DH's family never had real trees b/c his brother is allergic, so it'll be nice for him to experience what having a real tree is like!
Thanksgiving- IL's house. My mom is going to be there, my dad has to work. I'm cooking the turkey!
Christmas- I honestly don't know what our plans our. I know DH and I are spending the morning together. I think the ILs are doing something. DH's grandpa want's the family together this year.
my currently-reading shelf:
Our plans change from year to year, primarily because all of our family is out of state (in 3 different states). So this year:
Thanksgiving: We're staying put, and as far as I know, no one is coming here. We'll probably have Thanksgiving dinner with some other friends who also have no family here.
Christmas: We're going to Ohio to spend it with my family. I'm actually going out early (the 14th) because a good friend is getting married there on the 17th and my SIL is due with my nephew on the 18th. DH will come out on the 24th, and we'll head back together on the 30th. Probably just spend NYE at home.
Our Blog!
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
Since DH and I have been together, we've mostly done Thanksgiving w/ his mom (DC/VA) and Christmas here. One year we planned to do Christmas there, but the tickets were so expensive we couldn't. But, DH mom passed away last year, no now:
Thanksgiving Day: w/ my mom, her b/f and my bro
Thanksgiving Night: games & dessert w/ my dad's side of fam (incl aunts, uncles, cousins)
Christmas Eve: dinner w/ my mom, etc. & stay the night
Christmas Morning: presents and breakfast w/ my mom, etc.
Christams Day: dinner & presents w/ my dad, step-mom, siblings
Christmas Night (or some day that weekend): games & dessert w/ dad's fam (incl aunts, uncles, cousins)
Don't know what will happen this year though b/c I don't know what days (if any) DH will have off). His sister also says she's coming out here for Christmas, but I'll believe it when she buys tickets.
hey!!! good to see you around!!
Family fall photo session with Ashley Hoyle Photography
Married 7/10/10
Wedding Planning Bio - Updated 6/13/2010
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="D
My mom's local, DH's whole family is in Michigan, and my dad's in Texas.
Holidays:
Thanksgiving: We host, mostly for friends. My mom comes, no one else has bothered.
Christmas: Up to now, we've pretty much always gone out to Michigan for it (we missed last year because DH's work wanted him on-call), but once the baby's here (i.e., next year!), we'll be hosting -- at least until the kid(s) are big enough to fly.
Thanksgiving:
We drive up to my hometown (about 45 min North of Seattle) and have Thanksgiving Lunch with my mom's side of the family (Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins + their offspring and SO's). Then we drive back down to Seattle. We bring our dog with us. We used to spend the night, but it's harder to do with our dog.
Christmas:
We are supposed to switch each year between my family (90% of the time with my mom's side, and rarely my dad's side) and his family (Grandma, parents, SIL and niece and their SO's and kids). But we skipped flying to his family last year, because of a lack of paid time off and $$$$ (We had to save both for the wedding).
When we spend it with my family, we spend about 12 hours with family, then drive back on Christmas day. We celebrate Christmas Eve and NYs by ourselves.
When it's with his family, we fly to GA and spend 4-5 days at his parents' home. That is too much concentrated family time imo...
Photo courtesy of jennygg.com
My never updated Planning/Married Bio: http://mgoss228.weebly.com/
Seattle Knotties: Please page me if you send me a PM!