Reply to Help me entertain my bump-on-a-log family over Xmas

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here are my tips:

Drive-thru light show and dinner out after.

If mom cooks, pop her on a counter stool or at the table and give her a job (snap beans, form cookie balls, etc...), drink this while I cook, etc...

Movie nights at home after dinner: Elf? A Newflix movie? A new release rental? Eat dinner then go to the sofa and serve dessert/cookies while you watch a movie and have less pressure to talk. After the movie yawn and say "That was fun, see you in the morning!"

Will you mom get her nails done?

If BIL wants to go to a sports game, great. Let your DH do that. Or just turn on sports.

Set out a big puzzle, or the giant holiday crossword and let people do that all week. 
[/quote]

I agree with this! I had my mom snapping beans for Thanksgiving. She has so much anxiety and it's contagious and I think allowing down to sit and snap beans (a lot! We hosted 30 people) calmed her mind down and we actually had a good conversation while I cooked and she helped prep.

A jigsaw puzzle is also a great idea. Some of my "bump on a log" relatives are wonderful people with neat stories but it takes a little work to curate the environment to get them to be comfortable being themselves.

I also need to work on myself to practice being okay with just being together in silence sometimes. 
I think like many DC people I'm a very active Type A personality so need to chill myself and realize we don't need to fill every moment. The things that are dreadfully boring to me may be just enough for some people. Neither is right or wrong. This has gotten slightly easier since I took up meditating (which is still sometimes torturous but getting better). And I go for a long run in the mornings. And sometimes another in the evening or midday when I realize I "forgot" to pick up an ingredient. That makes it easier to be with my mom who could be happy just staring at me.[/quote]

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