What? Don’t tell me you have never heard of fighting over family holiday plans. Part of this 101 Days till Christmas Countdown that I’m sharing here on the blog, is that planning ahead will (hopefully) help us avoid some of the usually unavoidable family stress.

Family Battle Royale: Holiday Edition!

If you have never experienced a family battle royale around the holidays, good for you! For me, growing up in Puerto Rico, the holidays meant (in part) trying to clone yourself to make it to every family party. And, oh yes, you were expected to eat at grandma’s house. And they also had a full “Navidad” (Christmas) dinner at uncle “Tio Pincito’s” house. One year he had the largest “seafood paella” ever, so I’m not complaining! But don’t forget, they’ll have food at your friend’s after party “parranda,” too!

And wait! Of course there’s more! I eventually got engaged to my man, the love of my life, Adam. And it turned out, as good puertorrican families do, he also had grandma’s and uncles and friends that expected him to show up during the holidays.

So what in the world were we supposed to do? There are only so many hours (and so many meals you can eat) in a holiday!

This is why we moved from Puerto Rico to California.

KIDDING! lol

But seriously, it was a lot of hard work to try to figure out who would go to which house when … without disappointing someone.

And I’m not going to lie — my hubby and I felt a bit of “relief” when we spent our first holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years) away from family. The lack of stress, pressure and expectations were — a relief. Although we were happy to see family for Three Kings’ Day! 

It’s 99 Days till Christmas: You still have time to try to make better family holiday plans!

So today, with 99 Days till Christmas, we have time to take a step back and try to think about the best possible arrangements for all the holiday family expectations.

What will mean a lot to you and your spouse? What about your kids? Your parents and in-laws?

We might not be able to make everybody happy … but we can communicate love and try to make plans that work out to the best of our ability.

If you have any tips and tricks that have worked for you, please share! I’d love to hear so we can help each other out!

Here’s to a family-battle-royale-free holiday season! (Unless y’all really wanna play Fortnite!) 😉

Laughing (and negotiating family holiday plans) thru life,

Coppelia