New Family= New Traditions...

I think a big part of having a new baby is learning to live life with a new family.  Before Jaycee's arrival, life was very different (obviously).  If we needed to do something, the only hassle was getting dressed and driving.  Now we have to get ourselves dressed, dress Jaycee, change diapers, stock the diaper bag, get the car seat ready, (etc.).  Now I am certainly not complaining.  I definitely knew that life was going to change and we were as prepared as possible, but I have run into the problem of the HOLIDAYS (cue the scary music).  Both Jess and I come from families that have some traditions of meeting together to celebrate.  Naturally, the question of where to go comes up.  While this was only a slight bump when we first got married, now with Jaycee; things got complicated.  My family traditionally meets Christmas Eve and parties until midnight (or later) to ring in the holiday.  Jess' family meets for lunch/early dinner on Christmas Eve.  Last year, we were able to hit both.  It was a long day (especially with Jess being 7 1/2 months pregnant), but we made it work.  This year, the prospect of driving in the rain on Christmas Eve seemed a little cumbersome.  So, I made the big decision to not do the midnight festivities this year and end the day with the early dinner with Jess' family.  Unfortunately, this didn't go over so well.  Some of my family saw this choice as a break of the tradition and were pretty outspoken about it.  Concerned that I might have made some waves, I tried to think of ways to do something that worked on both sides.  So I decided to visit with family on the 23rd instead.  It was made apparent again that I was breaking tradition and some people still weren't happy.  What to do?  Nothing.  I chose to stick with my plans of an early evening and a rested Christmas day.  Some people might see this as selfish, but I saw it as the best way to make the holiday great for MY family.  I think I made the right choice for everyone and maybe next year we can change it up.  And last night, I sat next to our exhausted baby at 8:30 as she curled up next to me and I swore I heard her say: Good Choice dad, Good Choice...