Luckily Unfortunately, my family all live several states away. My mom, grandma, and brother are in Indiana, my dad is an Alabama, and we live in Connecticut. All of us share a horror of holiday travel. That means we always spend holidays with my husband’s big fat drunken Italian family. Truly, anyone who isn’t Italian should marry into an Italian family. :)
We have set places for almost every holiday. An aunt and uncle host the same event each year, so we always knww where we’re going. Now that most of the cousins are married and have kids, a lot of them alternate years between families. Sometimes we’ll have a huge group for Thanksgiving, and sometimes a smaller group. One of these days I’ll inherit the job of hosting Thanksgiving, and I’m actually looking forward to it! Easter used to be hosted by an aunt and uncle who have now retired to Cape Cod and don’t have room for a big gathering, so that holiday is always kind of up in the air until someone claims it. We always have a wonderful time, especially now that all the kids are old enough to play together and entertain each other.
Sometimes there’s a little friction about holidays, always from the same aunt who seems to enjoy stirring the pot and setting people against each other. She’s made it clear she isn’t participating in holidays with her side of the family this year, but since she tends to make people uncomfortable no one really minds. I only feel bad for her two daughters, who are really fun and sweet and will now miss out on this time with their cousins. I love my husband’s family because instead of worrying or catering to one rather nasty person, they all say “fuck ‘em” and go right on having a good time!