Holiday Guilt

[Anonymous]

I am an only child too, and my mom fully understands that I am MARRIED, and my husband has a family too. Why should she get to see the grands open presents every year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi All. Thanks for your comments and advice. Honestly, we just started to plan this. Normally his mom flies into town over Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with us but can't this year because of family illnesses and lack of paid time off. I didn't think about it from the standpoint of the holidays being just around the corner and my mom being caught off guard. I understand I should have given more notice, I guess I just thought celebrating "Christmas" another long weekend would suffice. I'm an only child so maybe she is also upset because it will just be her and my dad alone on the actual holiday? I just wish things wouldn't be so complicated. I hate this nagging feeling of guilt like I did something wrong.

Would she and your father consider just doing something fun together such as a Christmas cruise? I always wonder why some older married couples aren't interested in celebrating holidays or birthdays on their own the way they did when they were first married? Not a national tragedy to miss Christmas with the entire pack once in a while. We are such creatures of habit. The first time I missed Christmas my parents really lost it; you'd think I had ran off to join a cult or something. Well, guess what? They got mad, I had my holiday with my boyfriend and life went on. If my parents told me that they were going to spend Christmas by themselves in Paris or something, I'd be more than happy to give them my blessing. The kids are really small and won't know, won't care.