# Traditional Family Days

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-family-days/738367>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 23, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-family-days/738367 "2015-11-23T16:26:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-family-days/738367/1 "2015-11-23T16:26:34Z")

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I always feel pressure during the holidays to make certain events that are considered traditional in our family. Namely Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanksgiving I like to keep open and use it as a reconnect day with people I don’t see often.

Do any families just randomly appoint their own special day for a family gathering tradition and leave the other days open. I think it would make sense and am thinking about proposing it. We have well over a hundred in our family now and most of them have in-laws or other commitments they need to keep. I feel like it has gotten out of hand and become too demanding.

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**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-family-days/738367/2 "2015-11-24T00:12:21Z")

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I have a friend with five grown children. They pick a day in mid-December to celebrate Christmas, and that’s when they get together to eat and open gifts.

My friend said she never wants to put her kids on the spot about seeing her, or going to the in-laws, or just doing what they want to do on the holiday itself. The kids are grateful and she and her husband get to have everyone together during December.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-family-days/738367/3 "2015-11-24T01:28:21Z")

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My parents always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. I believe that’s because originally they were expected to spend Christmas with their parents, so they kept a separate day for themselves and their kids.

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**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-family-days/738367/4 "2015-11-24T02:03:26Z")

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For years the extended family got to gether on the third Weekend in December for Christmas.

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**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-family-days/738367/5 "2015-11-24T03:18:50Z")

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Well all our parents were alive, every holiday was marked and recorded - lunch here this year, dinner there, reverse next year. It was a pain. And being the only kids close enough to visit (before my wife became an only child) we really didn’t have a choice. I miss our three worthwhile parents dearly (my mother I chose to ignore) and wish they were still with us but -------- I do have to say its simplified things.