Couple explains why choosing to spend holidays with just their kids is the 'best decision ever'

The festive season is upon us and so are the long holiday chores list, gift-wrapping schedules, decoration plans and of course, the social commitments that come along with it. This time of the year can be as exhausting as it is exciting because there can be a lot of pressure to meet up with family, friends and many others. One couple actually decided to do the opposite and the internet is getting inspired by them. Donald and Monica Bailey, parents to three kids, went viral for their TikTok video posted on their account @thebaileys.official for their approach to spending holidays just with their immediate family.

The video titled “Why We Chose To Only Spend Holidays With Our Immediate Family,” begins with Monica saying, “One of the best decisions we have ever made for our family was to choose to spend holidays with just our immediate family, meaning me, my husband and our kids.” The video also showed how the husband, Donald, continued looking at his wife while she spoke, with nothing but a smile on his face.

Monica continued, “We don’t do holidays with extended families and as much as we love those people and we love spending time with them, we have realized that it often brings a lot of stress, a lot of obligations that people really don’t want.” She highlighted an important point, “It doesn’t really let you enjoy your holidays.” She dived further into how they plan and spend the holidays just with their kids, “We do Thanksgiving here with just our family. I make all the food and it’s just us and our kids.” She also added that they have “chosen” to spend the holiday in a “very conscious way” to answer the question, “What would make the best possible Thanksgiving for us?”

The couple realized that for them, it’s all about quality time. “We want to spend the morning relaxing as a family and have that as a time to say, ‘What went well this year? What did we love? What do we want next year to be like?’” She further elaborated that, as a family, they “set some ideas” and “brainstorm” over these questions. After having some quality discussions about next year’s focus, they enjoy a great Thanksgiving dinner with just their “little family.” She also pointed out the benefits of doing so, “It’s great because we never have to fight traffic, we don’t have to worry about ‘Oh, is it going to be awkward? Are we going to be late?’”

Monica’s concluding point in the video was a strong one, as she said, “We’re not living our holidays for everybody else.” She also added that most people “end up doing that” and “they live their holidays for everybody else.” Monica had some great points to say, but TikTok users are split over whether this is a good idea or not. They expressed their position on the same in the comments section.

@azredshay said, “We had so many Christmas days packing kids up, leaving the house, going to parents’ houses. I vowed not to do that to my kids!” However, some users also disagreed with Monica and Donald. @georgia....21 said, “I couldn’t imagine my daughter or son telling me I can’t spend time with my grandchildren at Christmas.”