We are not Christian and we do not celebrate Christmas here but decorating, gift giving and having a nice turkey dinner for the New Year's is tradition in my family. I know it sounds weird, like Christmas and Thanksgiving bundled for 31st of December. Not everyone celebrate the New Year like we do in Turkey. It is even frowned upon by some, since it looks like a Christian tradition. I do not care what anybody else thinks. It makes me happy to decorate my home and give gifts to my family. I like welcoming and celebrating the New Year.
However, we are not into excessive number of gifts. We usually buy one gift per person or may be two. I like giving practical gifts such as clothing items. This year I am buying gifts for the following people:
Mom
Sis
BIL
Uncle
BIL's mom and dad
Cleaning Lady (that will actually be a baby gift for her third grandkid)
I am going to establish a budget for each person and will try to stick to the overall budget I will set.
Even though, I will be visiting them, I will end up cooking and that also means grocery shopping. I like roasting a whole turkey and neither mom nor sis does that. They make side dishes but since I like the Thanksgiving menu so much, I prepare traditional American side dishes as well. At the end of the day, we end up with plenty of leftovers, full stomachs and happy people:)
When I was living in the US, I used to spend Christmas with my American friends at their home and it was a lot of fun. I still remember how the kids attacked piles of gifts and ripped the packages in a matter of minutes. The first time I saw how many gifts they were getting, I was amazed. Then I got used to it too:)
so do you all get together on January 1st then or on December 31st and see the New Year in together?
ReplyDeleteWe requested gift cards for restaurants from our kids for Christmas, as we enjoy eating out.
Gill in Canada
Hi Gill, we get together on the 31st of December, have our dinner and exchange gifts. Usually there is chocolate cake as we approach midnight to welcome the New Year. TV stations have special programming. We stay in but some people go to parties at restaurants, hotels or clubs. I do not like those big nights when you have to dress up, spend a lot of money and sit on top of a chair all night. The 1st of January is a national holiday. We just spend a quiet day and enjoy the leftovers:)
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