How about family AND friends. We tend to mix the two here. Neither my husband nor myself lives near our parents - they are 3000 miles away. But I have 3 kids and they have assorted friends and significant others that join us. Then there are the older neighbors with no family that live near us that are sort of surrogate grandparents to my kids. Also the guy that my son and I play music with whose wife left, He is alone so he will join us. My house is jumping at the holidays. It's very casual, not formal at all, with lots of music, mostly homemade. I always enjoy the holidays.

Kathleen