We Wish You a "Many" Christmas

Christmas has already come and gone at our house. 

Well, at least one of them has. 

Living eleven hours from the cities we grew up in makes it hard for my husband and me to see everyone at Christmas.  It only took us one year - and one very long, snowy trip with toddlers - to figure out we were driving in the wrong direction when we traveled to Michigan for the holidays.  Although it was nice to have a white Christmas, we limit our trips to the warmer weather months, now.

This year, our family tried out what I believe will become a new tradition.  My parents and sister came down to visit for the week of Thanksgiving.  So we decided that instead of the day after Thanksgiving being Black Friday, we'd make it Christmas morning.  This meant decorating before Thanksgiving (which I am otherwise totally against...) and some extra planning.  Now, we haven't moved the holiday; we will still countdown with excitement until December 25, but I figured the best present we could give my parents and sister was to let them see the joy on the kids faces' while opening presents instead of hearing it over the phone.

So November 23, we went through the whole scenario; string lights glowing, Christmas music playing, my mom under the tree playing Santa passing out gifts, my sister taking pictures, and my dad sneaking away to present us with his annual surprise gift - i.e., something we'd never expect but really need.  This year it was a ladder :).  We had a big homemade waffle breakfast and watched Christmas movies all day and honestly, it really did feel like a Christmas from my childhood...with the exception of the 60 degree temps.

My family has gone back to Michigan but come Christmas Eve, we'll do it all over with my husbands' family.  And then again on Christmas morning with ours including phone calls and skype with the rest of our Michigan family, totaling three Christmases for the year (not counting parties).
 
So what's the benefit of multiple Christmases?  With young kids, there's many...
*With smaller portions of gifts at a time, that they are able to process, and therefore, enjoy and appreciate more. 
* The focus can be more dedicated to the actual gift giver rather than the overwhelming blanket "thank you". 
* Less stress.  We all love our families, but let's face it...we've all seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!  The decreased amount of people and cooking and stress allows for everyone to enjoy the holiday a little bit more...and yes I'm refering to...mhmmm...the hostess :). 

How do you celebrate Christmas?