If you are lucky, there will be little drama and mountains of good food. The day will pass quickly enough and you'll leave on time.
I always understood the sacrifice. Everyone has to do their time. Some end up with more holidays than others, but over the days and decades the tally ends up about even. What I haven't spent a lot of time considering is the sacrifices our love ones make to accommodate our schedules. So this year I worked Christmas Eve which allowed for neither the late afternoon or early evening mass nor for a dinner out as we have done in the past. Steve, the boys and I tried Midnight (10:30pm) mass at Holy Spirit. It was very nice and certainly was in line with the late night sleep schedules they have. Instead of a Christmas Eve dinner followed by gifts, this year we had Christmas Day brunch. All was good. But, will it be our new tradition? Who knows? It's not always easy being the one everyone else has to plan around.
But maybe THAT is our tradition. Knowing that every year will be different and just accepting that. Regardless of the day or the order of our celebrations, ours is a tradition of making it all work.
Love my family and grateful that they shoulder the inconveniences my job creates around family holiday time.