Assignment: Give instructions about how my family celebrates holidays.
My family celebrates Christmas but we've never celebrated it in a consistent way. My Mom and Dad are divorced and the only one in the family who seems enthusiastic to keep the family "traditions" alive is my sister who usually organizes Thanksgiving.
When it comes to Christmas I honestly don't like the holidays but by default of having to stay with family over winter break after being forced out of the dorms I usually end up at my sisters who has a tree and expects me to contribute something. Since I haven't had a steady job in the past around the holidays I wasn't able to buy presents. This year because I have a job I guess I'll have to buy something for everyone.
In terms of giving instructions for how we celebrate the holiday, I can't really do it from my entire families perspective but through giving you the way I approach family holidays I hope you'll get the gist of how my family contributes to the process.
1st: Figure out where Christmas is celebrated this is usually at my sisters and moms house, but for Thanksgiving we sometimes celebrate it at my dad's house if we wanted a bigger celebration.
2nd: Assess the financial situation and determine if you can give anything this holiday. Due to sometimes being jobless over winter break I'm unable to give gifts and this sometimes means I don't receive any either. The only people in my family that consistently receive gifts on Christmas are my 5 and 2 year old Nephews.
3rd: Prepare for the longest 3 to 4 days of the year. I dislike holiday session so I have to do something to get through what seems like a very long time but is really just Christmas Eve, Day and a day or two after X-mas that I'm not able to leave my Sisters house because no one will give me a ride to my dad's where I can be independent and I have my own room. In order to get through Christmas at my Sisters I have to remember to bring things to distract me like my laptop or a good book. I always bring my own things so that I'm not fighting with anyone over control over the television.
4th: Usually my sister cooks, my mom cooked when we were kids but now my sister is the number one cooker. Although I don't help with any cooking when my sisters the main chef, I'm usually forced to do the dishes. So I mentally prepare myself for my sisters nagging about me not helping to cook so I better do the dishes. On the other hand, sometimes we have dinner at my dad's house and if that's the case my dad has a long time girlfriend who is like a Step Mom to us and on special occasions she usually serves as the main chef. At my dad's house I'm expected to help cook which usually entails chopping and cutting ingredients while my "step mom" or sister do the real cooking.
5th: Christmas day traditions have somewhat changed over the years because of the addition of my nephews and my dad's girlfriend and sisters boyfriend and the fact that my twin brother became a Marian and is currently in Japan. Traditionally we wake up, someone starts making breakfast (definitely not me), the nephews annoy me by running around and getting into stuff or crying about something, after breakfast we open gifts and we spend the rest of the day doing nothing, or something by ourselves. The holiday usually ends abruptly after opening presents and we go back to ignoring each other and being a distant family.
In conclusion, I guess the main advice about my family holiday celebrations that I can give you is to be very flexible and don't get your hopes up (or disappointment is imminent). Although something festive usually happens it's never celebrated the same way every year and instability is always a significant factor in my family.
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