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Family Traditions: Why My Wife and I (Now) Spend the Holidays Together


Right before Thanksgiving, the good folks here at Blisstree posted My Wife and I Spend the Holidays Apart (And We Like It That Way), a little look at our non-traditional non-together festivities. The piece struck an online nerve, eliciting a fair number of comments, both here and abroad. It even landed Kim and I a guest spot on a the NPR radio show “The Story,” fulfilling a personal goal even if it had nothing to do with Ira Glass. Although, host Dick Gordon has a much more soothing put-you-at-ease voice, the kind made for hot cocoa. (Hear for yourself: Our segment begins around 29:30.)

http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_1175_Bley_Brothers_Thanksgiving.mp3

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the responses. Not that everyone thought our way of doing things made a lick of sense, but nearly everyone took a live-and-let-live whatever-works-for-you attitude about it. It warmed my Grinchy heart, but it also made me feel guilty for a bit of writerly withholding to the readers. I apologize. I wasn’t entirely forthcoming … More »

Post from: BlissTree

Family Traditions: Why My Wife and I (Now) Spend the Holidays Together

My Wife and I Always Spend the Holidays Apart (And We Like It That Way)


Last Christmas Eve, my wife Kim and I performed our annual holiday ritual.

No stockings were hung, no champagne was toasted, no duet of “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays was sung,” no gifts were exchanged. Just a couple of simple ‘I love yous” before drifting off to sleep.

270 miles apart.

For ten years running, we’ve spent the holidays apart. And it’s not just Christmas. We usually go our separate ways for Thanksgiving, too.

Kim heads north to join her family in suburban Boston; I go south to sit on my Mom’s couch in her urban Philadelphia neighborhood.

Why, you ask?

Isn’t it obvious?

We adhere to a foolproof system for reducing the holiday-related torture known as in-laws. … More »

Post from: BlissTree

My Wife and I Always Spend the Holidays Apart (And We Like It That Way)