So one of my siblings just let me know the drama from the Christmas dinner that I didn’t attend. Even though no alcohol was served, evidently some of the family got a little wrung up and arguments ensued. Thankfully it was after the meal and people were about to leave anyway. I can’t believe that this person though anything could be gained from stirring up things with the family.
Had to send a message to the perp. Not to keep things stirred up but to hopefully chill things for the next gathering – whenever that will be. At the risk of her giving me a bunch of grief back. Oh well, let’s see if free advice is worth anything.
“The older I get – and its pretty old now, g/f – the more I appreciate peace and harmony. Even though people have strong emotions, it is usually not worth having a discussion escalate in a family gathering. The family (any family) has a natural pecking order and people who disregard that are at a disadvantage.
So let me say that, when I married Steve Sr and had to find my way in his large dysfunctional family it was always challenging for me, especially during holidays. When all else fails, I would tell myself, “You can’t reason with crazy and you can’t argue with stupid.” Not that I’m calling anyone crazy or stupid – just sayin’ that sometimes nothing you say will have a good outcome no matter how right you think you are or how wrong you think someone else might be.
There’s another saying I love, too. “Don’t let the turkeys get you down.”
My stepdaughter has no ornaments for her tree but she gets a lot of food stamps. I told her to make some handmade ornaments. Like gingerbread men and little playdough figures that you can make from flour, salt and water. These are adorable and not that hard to make. If you use food items, they aren’t costing you anything but time.
This week is one of the most heavily traveled weeks all year. There will be millions of people flying or driving across state lines to get home and have Thanksgiving dinner with their families.
My family dinner will be pulling people for 4 different states, but not all of us will be there. My sister is hosting the dinner in Virginia. We can’t make that long a trip right now, but my thoughts are with them. the worst thing about not being there is that the people not there get talked about and they aren’t able to defend themselves. Rumors and arguments from family gatherings have a way of lasting for months afterwards. That’s how families do.
Today is my little sister’s birthday. I can remember my two sister’s birthdays easily because they follow a pattern. My birthday was on the 19th, my sister’s birthday was on the 17th and then my lil sister’s birthday was on the 15th.
That pattern continued with my two younger brothers. My brother was born 10 years after me and his birthday was on the 13th. Then the youngest and last was born on . . . not the 11th. That’s what we were all thinking. But he was born on the 21st. So we’ve got all the odd numbers covered from the 13th through the 21st.
When my mom went to Las Vegas they gave her a Keno card at one of the restaurants and she picked all the numbers of our birthdays – and she won $800! How about that!
