Bliss by Harry Bliss for November 23, 2024

That should make for an interesting get-together !!!!

That’s always a minefield with some families. One side of my wife’s family is so contentious, I refuse to share meals with them. I honestly don’t know how her dad remained so sane.

Why is it that “we” are the only normal ones in the family?

F’family

And let us give thanks for family.

Great idea! Everyone will get mad, go home early, and you can enjoy a quiet evening with plenty of leftovers.

Must be nice to be perfect ;-)

Recipe for idiot racist?

A real slice of Americana, Just like a Rockwell painting.

…and sit at the other end of the table.

Sounds like a plan.

“…and go out to eat.”

Better still, don’t invite them over. Life’s too short to suffer fools.

Ah yes, the holidays, where dysfunctional families come together to make headlines for the normal people after the holidays.

They’ll be surprised how much they have in common.

Perfect. Gotta keep the advice columnists employed.

One day they will realize that autistic does not mean idiot. Just because we let people get away with things doesn’t mean we’re stupid it means we’re studying them.

It’s nice to have entertainment with dinner.

Nothing like that for us. We emigrated to Canada about 7 years ago (took us 14 to get it all together). Now its “Do you think the (favourite sports ball team) will win it all they year?” When we lived in the States and hosted these festivities we had to deal with born again racists and others. until we stopped inviting them. Our last years down there we invited friends instead of family and it was much better. Canadian Thanksgiving was great this year. Even the Maple Leaf fan and the Canadiens fan got along. USAian thanksgiving will be just us, one daughter (the other can’t get the days off and lives several time zones away) and the clowder/pack. A good time will be had by all. Hope you have one as well.

Who’s stuck sitting next to the two judgmental hosts?

Always dreaded the obligatory holiday gatherings where they would start out ok and turn not so pleasant. Many times, as a kid, we would have to have two thanksgiving and Christmas dinners because the two sets of grandparents couldn’t agree to let one or the other host. We would start the day out at my mother’s parents house, where my grandfather would be in his room drinking, smoking and betting on whatever game happened to be playing. My grandmother’s brother would be fixing himself a brandy whilst explaining to my alcohol and drug council counsellor father that it was “purely medicinal”. We would then go to my dad’s parents house where it was actually (usually) a simpler gathering. Maybe the cousins would be there “if they could make it.”

Fast forward to married life and the gatherings became more regimented. The patriarch and matriarch were devout catholics and made sure everyone else followed whether they chose to or not. Games weren’t a choice. You played them regardless of whether you felt like participating or not and there was always money involved. If one person won more than the “house” (aka patriarch) they had to be cheating. It was always a tense time. Fortunately, there was a period where I had jobs that put me on call and, somehow, many times I was on call during these events and just “couldn’t leave town”. XD

Today, it’s just the missus and myself and things are very lowkey.

any relatives I have are a million miles away, so no worries here!

This year we don’t have to be with some non-blood relatives we’ve spent a few less than memorable T Days with.

An Affair to Remember lol

So ☹️ sad people have to judge on one’s political views.

We have a rule at our family gatherings…no religion and politics…..

But there’s always a few who make snide remarks. Can’t seem to shut their mouths .☹️