Our first Christmas away from home

This year is the first Christmas that my husband and I will be away from our families for the holidays. This means that all those family traditions will be missed but it also gives us the opportunity to start our own traditions.

First off, here is the reason we are not going home: work. My husband just started a new job that will likely require him to work the 24^th through 26^th of December. We will not get confirmation that he works until just before then but we are assuming that he will work as a newer employee. In addition, my current contract does not end until January 2^nd which means I should be working every day of December except for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. On top of that, we will be moving on January 1^st and will need time in December to pack up and get organized, so less time to visit the family who live about 5-6 hours away.

Now what kind of traditions will we be missing?
What will we do for our own traditions?
Well let’s take a look.

We will be missing the time honoured tradition of waking up and opening stockings first thing in the morning. In both our families, you were allowed to open your stockings as soon as you woke up but were not allowed to touch any presents. Fair trade off I’d say.

Again with stockings, we will miss the unwritten rule that the clementine at the bottom of the stocking gets eaten before anything else in the stocking. Of course there is always lots of chocolates to tempt us but tradition always wins over and the orange gets eaten first.

Now these two traditions are simple enough and strong enough memories for both of us that we will continue with them. We will be making our own stockings and filling them, being sure to include the required clementine.

We will also be missing the amazing turkey and ham dinners. Buffet breakfasts. Finger food lunches. Basically all the amazing food that our parents and grandparents always have prepared. Instead I will be making either a roast in the crockpot OR our signature bacon wrapped pork tenderloin. Even though we will be the one’s cooking this year, we will still eat well!

One thing that will be missing is a Christmas tree. A staple for most families, including ours, for Christmas time. We currently do not own a Christmas tree, and are not fans of live ones, and since we are moving in January, buying a tree now doesn’t make sense. It would be one large item to pack and move. So we are just going to skip it this year and go with some smaller décor instead.

Now for those reading this and saying to themselves “Why not just have Christmas on a day when you can visit your family?” Well, we are actually doing that too, it just will not have the same traditions or memories since the full family Christmas will still be on the 25^th. We are heading home for “Dutch Christmas” which is when my extended family get together (around the 8^th of December each year). This is a time when my grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and their families can come together and see each other. We are a very large family (dad being 1 of 8 kids each with children of their own now, some of those kids with kids) and that means we don’t always get to see each other often so we do our best to come out to this Christmas event.

While we are visiting family during Dutch Christmas we will also swing by our parents’ houses and have mini-Christmases or get-togethers (still being discussed). For instance, any gifts they want us to open we will pick up and take back to Ottawa. We are also likely going to invite the family to breakfast or dinner while we are home. And generally get the family connection that we will be missing on the big day.

So that is our first Christmas away from home.
Do you always celebrate with your family?
If not, what were the changes you noticed that first Christmas away?