🎄 Holidays used to look very different for me.
I come from a small family, ten people max — and that’s counting myself and my kids. Cozy, predictable, simple. My version of the holidays was celebrating once, eating once, and then spending the rest of the time soaking up the quiet with my children. No rushing, no driving house to house, no crowd of cousins you’ve never met suddenly hugging you like you grew up together.
🎁 My husband’s family?
A whole different universe.
They have relatives coming out of the woodwork. I’m talking brunch at one house, lunch at another, and then dinner with what feels like a hundred people. There’s no downtime. No “let me sneak away and breathe.” No slow mornings in PJs. Just nonstop motion, laughter, chaos, casseroles, and conversations that never seem to end.
🎮 Last year, there were a couple of times I escaped to the room where all the kids were playing video games.
Yep, I hid with the chaos instead of the adults. It was loud, buttons were clicking nonstop, and someone was yelling about losing a match… but honestly? It was still calmer than the grown-up conversations happening in the living room. Sometimes you just need to sit on the edge of a couch, listen to Fortnite, and breathe.
🕯️ The truth is, my definition of family holidays was shaped by years of doing it on my own.
For the longest time it was just the kids and me. On the rare weekends they went to their dad’s, I used that time to sleep, recharge, or binge-watch Christmas movies with wrapping paper still on the floor from that morning. No rush. No dish to pass. No schedule. No one expecting me to show up with a smile plastered on my face when I felt exhausted.
🌀 So stepping into this new “hustle and bustle” version of the holidays has been… an adjustment.
Will I ever get used to the noise, the running around, and the sheer amount of family members I’m still trying to learn the names of? Honestly, I’m not sure. But I am trying. I’m trying because this is the family I’m in now — messy, loud, loving in their own way, and very different from what I knew.
And even though I put in the effort, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes wish I were back home in my pajamas, sipping a glass of wine, watching the newest Hallmark movie in total peace.
🦃 And this year?
We’re actually hosting Thanksgiving brunch — mostly because of a planned surgery and needing to keep things simple.
You’d think being in my own home would make the chaos easier… but honestly, I’m already wondering if it’s possible to escape my own house. 😂 Maybe I’ll sneak off to the kids’ gaming room again, grab a controller, pretend I’m part of the tournament, and hope no one notices I’ve gone missing for a few minutes.
💛 Blended families come with new rhythms, new traditions, and new definitions of “normal.”
We’re all just figuring it out as we go.