Holidays change every year for the over 50 crowd. Now your kids are over 18 (“adults”) and it’s a holiday, like Easter, Memorial Day or Thanksgiving.  When the kids were younger, it was an automatic, laden with tradition, decorated, well-planned event to immerse yourself and your children into the perfect world of celebration.  We worked hard at perfection.  Then, the kids grew up and all the holiday traditions began to take on a different flavor.

Perhaps now the kids do all the work and you happily show up, play with the grandkids and leave when dinner is over. Or everyone comes to your house, and you do the entertaining while the adult kids enjoy your hospitality. Sometimes you go on a trip and experience freedom from family responsibilities. A whole new world opens up for everyone in the family.

What is the key to adapting to this change? Maybe it is independence for both the parents and the kids. New traditions emerge, like paying for the kids’ plane tickets to come visit you in Florida so they can enjoy Spring Break.  Or, you don’t even see the kids because they are at the in-laws house for this holiday, so you choose to plant a vegetable garden that day and enjoy the beautiful weather instead. Whatever it is, the key for us is, as it has always been, to enjoy the day to its fullest. Of course, perfection is still the goal. It’s just the way we roll.

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