10 Good Things About Being Away From Family On A Holiday

For the first time ever, Cohiba and I are not able to be with family over Thanksgiving. We’re both really bummed about it. Not necessarily because we feel any big pull towards Thanksgiving, but we don’t see our families that often, and we really like to share the Wee One with them. (Also, his family lives in Columbus so they’re Ohio State fans, and it’s always fun to watch the Ohio/Michigan game with them. I’m also a little partial to Michigan because they’re social work program is so stellar, and my Ohio family knows that. It makes for some good trash talk. 🙂

So to put a positive spin on something that’s a little disappointing,  I’m focusing on good reasons to stay here this holiday:

1. I don’t have to travel. I mean, I love to travel, but during the holidays and with the baby, it’s a headache. Plus, I’ve been sick and I think being in an airplane would have made it worse. And I would have given it to people.

2. This is my first Thanksgiving in the Seattle area. I can see what kind of events they have up here.

3. We can start a holiday ritual or tradition with the Wee One. She won’t remember, of course, but it’ll be something our small family can have, just us three.

4. I will appreciate being around the family at Christmas so much more.

5. Speaking of that, I’ll be seeing family in only, like three more weeks, so it’s not a super long postponement. During which time the Wee One and I will be on the road for several weeks seeing both sides of the family. That a Whole Lot of Family.

6. Perhaps I will get more rest?  I have been sick for a few weeks because I’m not sleeping enough, so perhaps this will fix it? I don’t know.

7. Cohiba is going to cook for us. That’s always fun to let him show off his cooking, because he really likes to cook. (It isn’t so fun to clean up after him, but oh well.)

8. We are getting into a good sleep schedule for the Wee One (12 hours in the crib for the past two nights!) and we’re not threatening to mess it up with travel and time change.  We can make the schedule more solid before we try that.

That really all I could come up with; anything else was a creative reiteration of one of these eight, but they’re enough when a wave of homesickness washes over me.

Tell me about the first time you were away from loved ones during a holiday or special time for you. What was it? What did you do?