Good job!...I planned but didn’t follow thru with my plan!

Oh no! Hope it goes away quickly.

Christmas dinner is about the same level as Thanksgiving for our family, though it's not usually based around a big turkey

We usually just celebrate with my inlaws, so my wife's folks, her brother and his family, and our family. We each bring some dishes so it winds up not being too expensive of an endeavor. I think how people celebrate each holiday is pretty unique, so you're not likely to find one answer that would fit for most!

First time I've ever seen the term 'whanau', TIL a new word for extended family.

Ooops yes whanau means family. Sorry. Common word here. (Pronounced far-no). I guess my questions stem from the fact you don't have a long Xmas holiday like we do (school is out Dec 20-Jan 20) so Xmas is a major celebration here because everyone is on holiday and it's summer. Plus we don't have Thanksgiving. I wondered if Thanksgiving was extended family-oriented and Xmas closer family and smaller, given that it followed after Thanksgiving. Not that it was less important but just different? I'm kinda jealous you have these cool traditions that we don't! Not jealous that I don't have to battle more food celebrations though. I get lots of cultural envy. Don't mind me.

For my family food was and is a central theme for each holiday. On my mom's side it stemmed from very humble (poor) roots where there was often times throughout the year when the family went to bed hungry. To celebrate the prosperity of better economic times a large meal was served and shared.

Thanksgiving always featured a roasted turkey and if there were many guests my grandmother would also serve ham. Christmas dinner was beef, the best cut the family could afford given the number of people at the table. The list goes on: New Year's Eve is fish, Easter is lamb, 4th of July steaks on the grill.

My dad, being from India was amazed and blown away by the abundance of food and the expertise of my mom's French family in preparing the meals. He was swept into the holiday "tradition" of an extravagant holiday meal, the joy of sharing it with family and friends, and the expectation of culinary mastery of every dish.

Interesting to me is that my family treated Christmas as a secular holiday (Jesus was not the reason for the season, so to speak) and it was much later in my childhood that I learned there are other reasons to celebrate holidays, not just the feasting and time off.