A lot of us were lucky enough to be born into various family Christmas traditions.

You may love some and hate some, but they are yours for the keeping. At least until you grow up and have a family of your own. Then things get a little complicated.

I’ve mentioned this before, but my parents have lived in the same house since I was born. We did the same thing in the same place every year as long as I can remember. My first twenty-two Christmas days looked identical. But this is my 23rd Christmas, and it’s not going to be like the rest.

They always looked something like this: Christmas Eve baking, Christmas morning stockings, Christmas morning breakfast crepes, and then Christmas presents. There were slight variations over the years, but these components were always there. So when my husband shared with me that his family opened presents “whenever they felt like it,” I was shocked, and that shock quickly became disappointment. Didn’t he realize that there is a Christmas timeline? He didn’t. We had bigger decisions to make.

We decided that we will rotate holidays over the next several years. We don’t have kids, and our families are in different states, so this felt like a fair compromise. So this year we’re in Arkansas, and that’s a long way from San Antonio.

I must say that I am lucky to have wonderful in-laws that love baking as much as I do. If they weren’t, this rotation would be a big disappointment. They are big on quality time like my family is, but they’re very sweet. Not to say that my family isn’t sweet, but we don’t cover each other with kind words and affirmations like they do.

My family makes a lot of jokes, and we usually talk about sports, business, or anything else that’s surface level… about 99% of the time, and if conversation takes a turn to a more serious topic? You can count on one of my two oldest brothers to change the subject. Zach’s family loves depth, and apparently I do too. You learn a lot about yourself when you’re not in your nest.

Really, mixing family Christmas traditions is only the beginning.

My family is graciously waiting for Zach and I to get back to San Antonio to begin the family Christmas traditions that I’m used to, so really, not a whole lot will be different this year. Growing up will come with changing traditions, but as long as I’ve got my little, two-person family, it’ll be ok. We’ll have to make our own traditions too, but I can promise you they’ll still involve lots of baking.