In an earlier posting, I explained that I would not be seeing my parents for Christmas. As much as I adore my fiancé's family and their Italian traditions, I had a hard time.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to his grandparent's house where 30 of his mother's side of the family were eating and drinking and being very merry. They are a great group of people — and even Santa Claus showed up — but I couldn't shake the holiday blues.

I kept thinking about my family's traditions on Christmas Eve. It was my mother, father, brother, and the family basset hound. We shared many wonderful moments around the tree on Christmas Eve, and even though this year I was surrounded by wonderful people by the tree, it just wasn't the same.

I excused myself from the party and called my mom and she started to cry on the phone, then I started to cry. I promised that we would be together next year and told her I would call her in the morning. I returned to the party after I collected myself and my fiancé could tell I was upset. I didn't want to ruin the evening so I told him we'd talk about it later. It was a tough evening, but it's over and now, I am going to focus on the future. Next year we'll be our own little family and starting our own traditions.