Holidays present a unique challenge for most sets of new parents. The new baby is greatly admired by both sides of the family, and their vying for your time and attention that began as a married couple accelerates into overdrive as everyone tries to make you commit to their house for each respective holiday. If this is your first set of holidays as new parents, set the standard right away to save you headaches for years to come.

Alternating Houses

A popular method of celebrating to get all of the mandatory visits in is to alternate houses. You attend one side of the family’s celebration for Thanksgiving and the other side for Christmas. Every year you switch off, and this is as fair as possible. It does involve a lot of travel and planning in advance, but not as much as trying to hit both places both times.

Dual Houses

Another popular method of celebrating is to cram two of each holiday into the time frame. You eat Thanksgiving lunch at one house and truck over to another for Thanksgiving dinner. You spend Christmas Eve at one house and Christmas day at another. Some very brave souls hit both houses on both days.

While this might appease everyone for a little while, eventually squabbles will begin and feelings will get hurt if you don’t manage to share Christmas day with both sides or make a benign comment about too much turkey on Thanksgiving. The other downside is dragging your kids all over town on two of the most fun-filled holidays of the year. As your children get older, they will begin to enjoy Santa’s visit and Santa’s toys more. They will be hard-pressed to leave the goodies after only an hour or two. This leaves you with only one option.

Your House

You can celebrate holidays at your house. It is up for debate as to which is easier – dragging your family (and their mess) to your parent’s home or having everyone (and their mess) come to yours. Most parents eventually realize that certain parts of the holiday, such as present opening and Santa Clause should be done at home. Other family members are welcome to come over bright and early, but you are not leaving until close to lunchtime – if then.

Thanksgiving is easier to handle – perhaps alternate the holiday every year. Christmas, on the other hand, is most fun with children. And you’ve got the kids. If everyone wants to share in their joy and enthusiasm, they can simply come over to your house and revel in it.