Dear Annie: Regarding your response to “Not a Family Holiday in PA,” I had a similar dilemma with my children from a former marriage, my in-laws, my ex’s family and then my adult children’s new in-laws.

My solution was to celebrate each and every holiday on the Saturday after. I didn’t want my children to have to pick and choose where they spent the holiday, and I much preferred having them all together. I told them all that I was going to be selfish (wink, wink) and didn’t want them to be running around. I wanted them just to spend the whole day together. It worked very well for us for just over 20 years. Now those ex in-laws have all passed away and their father is no longer in the picture, so things have become much simpler.

My one daughter-in-law has since taken on hosting duties, and we all gather at their house the day of. I sometimes think they actually miss the “series” of celebrations that we used to have. Plus, I had the added bonus of being able to hit all those after-Christmas sales and pad my gift-giving abilities!

Hope this offers others with the same dilemma a different solution. — Mom of Five in California

Dear Mom of Five: Thank you for your suggestion. You are very creative and warm-hearted, and your solution was wonderful and will help others.

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