For financial reasons our traditions (one old and one just a few years old) may have to be put on hold, but here is what we normally do.
When I said one tradition is old, we have only been married 4 1/2 years, but the Thanksgiving meal is the same I have had since I was a little girl. I asked James if there was anything he wanted to add to it, to bring in his family's traditions, but evidently their traditions were similar so he didn't add to it. Even though it is just the two of us I cook the full Thanksgiving meal: Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes baked with a little butter and brown sugar, (sometimes) baby peas, jellied cranberry sauce, cranberry salad, Waldorf salad, fruit salad, yeast rolls, black and green olives, and pumpkin pie (sometimes another type of pie in addition to pumpkin). If we know someone who does not have plans, of course we would invite them to eat with us, but so far everyone has had their own plans.
Growing up we had Thanksgiving at our house and another turkey dinner at my aunt's and uncle's for Christmas. As I said, it is just the two of us (my side of the family is in California and James's side is in Iowa). The first Christmas after we were married (2003) I didn't feel well and was not in the mood to cook. It was evening by the time I felt well, and we were both hungry (we had nibbled but had not had a meal). We decided to get in the car and drive until we found a good place to eat. Of course everything in our tiny town was closed, so we headed to Charlotte. A lot is closed there on Christmas too, but we ended up at TGIFriday's. We decided to make a brand new Christmas tradition, so our Christmas tradition is to drive until we find "the" place. Next time we will probably drive toward Myrtle Beach, since there will probably be more places open on Christmas.
Barbara