The Gift Exchange

Both my husbands and my extended family live up in Seattle, about 170 miles away from Vancouver, WA, where we live.  Because they are all up there and it’s just us down here, we get to make the road trip North for every holiday, birthday, and family event.  Although frequent, the drive up there is always well worth it.

I am a native of Seattle and it always feels like home when we go up there, especially during the holidays.  Luckily my husbands family celebrates on Christmas Eve, and my family celebrates on Christmas Day.  So after work on Christmas Eve we make the drive to my in-laws who live in the heart of Seattle, just blocks from the Space Needle.  They are from Bulgaria so we have a traditional dinner of stuffed grape leaves and cold fruit soup.  Christmas dessert consists of Tikvanik, a Bulgarian dessert with a quarter, dime, and nickel cooked in.  If you find the change in your piece, you will have good luck for the year in either home, family, or finances.  Then we visit until midnight, which is when we open gifts.  On Christmas Day we make a short drive up North to Mountlake Terrace to my Aunt’s house and celebrate with my side of the family.  It’s usually a potluck and involves charades or some other game that after a few glasses of wine makes us all laugh until we cry.  We all try to outdo each other with the funniest white elephant gift and then stash them somewhere in my Aunt’s house so after we have all gone home she finds she is left with all of our junk .

Then, still Christmas Day, we drive home because my husband and I have jobs where we need to be at work the next day.  During the drive we reminisce about what a whirlwind the past 24 hours was and how we wish we could have spent more time with everyone instead of rushing from one place to the other.  I’m guessing my traveling to multiple families for the holidays is not nearly as hectic as some of yours…so please share!

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