Reply to If you don't enjoy family, in laws, give me your best tips for the holidays?

Forum Index » Family Relationships

Reply to "If you don't enjoy family, in laws, give me your best tips for the holidays?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I give zero energy to my ILs and focus on our young children. They easily take up 200% of my energy! I play games with them, read books with them, clean up toys with them. [/quote]

This is me.[/quote]

Same. Except they run me completely ragged. They are all over my inlaws tiny house, I'm picking up nonstop because there's no place to put toys or hang coats even. They're always wanting drinks (we bring cups because inlaws only have glass and my kids broke several last time! ugh), snacks. It's SO damn exhausting. After Thanksgiving I felt like I needed a week's vacation.

Kinda jealous of the woman knitting or the woman sitting in a coffee shop. I hand embroider but it's hard to even imagine having time for something like that at inlaws. Kids are just 10x worse there and sleep worse than at home.

So my tips: sleeping pills help me sleep and not toss and turn on bad mattresses and sheets, bringing snacks and food for the kids to tide them over when there's no lunch (they like a big breakfast and big dinner, my kids like big lunch) that I keep in my room. [/quote]

Question:

These are all great ideas, but if the goal is to go somewhere and then just not be there - physically or mentally or emotionally- why go at all?[/quote]

The goal isn't to "not be there" AT ALL.  The goal is to balance being there and then also GETTING A DAMN BREAK from people who live life differently than you do.  So if Mama Nancy wants to watch Fox News all day, I need to spend the morning at the cafe so I don't go insane, but then maybe I'm fortified to get through the afternoon propaganda machine with a smile on my face.  So you are there, and there is quality time, but spending every minute focused on visiting and making memories can be exhausting.

[/quote]

Oh we have to endure 24/7 of Fox News too.  I don’t even care that my parents have different opinions,  I care that they are constantly trying to convert family, friends, and strangers alike to their worldview.  I don’t bring up politics bc (1) it’s divisive and (2) there are more interesting things to discuss over the holidays.  But dang it just wouldn’t be Christmas without bringing up the crisis at the border and CRT 97 times in 48 hours.[/quote]

Every meal at my house has a plate, cup, utensils, and a kazoo.  Anytime someone brings up politics or religion, other people blow the kazoo.  Yes.  I am that crazy grandma.  But, it works.  Everyone ends up laughing, and the conversation turns. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics