socal78
Well-known member
I want to see all your craziest holiday family drama stories. No family is perfect - everybody has these stories.
One year, we were anticipating so much fighting among family that when we were setting the table for Thanksgiving, my husband jokingly propped up a baby gate on the table, separating the two sides.
Hilarious. We left it up like that until everyone arrived.
I've decided to engage in a little "pumpkin pie fight" myself this year.
My husband has this cousin -- early 50's, permanent bachelor, mild alcohol problem, depressed and lonely as can be. It's been this way for years and years. He's always gone over to his mom's house for the holidays. His mom is not a very nice lady. She's been rude to Mr. SoCal and I along with other family members. She spreads rumors and talks bad about the people she doesn't get along with. We haven't stayed in touch and haven't gone to her place for the holidays in a long time. Anyway, she's been doing the cooking for years. She prides herself on it. Meanwhile, we have our own separate Thanksgiving where I do the cooking.
She recently moved across the country, leaving her son (the permanent bachelor) and her other kids / grandkids behind. This man, my husband's cousin, said he's dreading the holidays this year because only has his sister's house to go to and he doesn't like her family.
Word got back to me. I got this great idea to invite him over to our place for Thanksgiving this year. My plan is to make all the best recipes and let him make some requests. I want him to feel like he has a place to go and still has family around who cares about him.... something to look forward to instead of sitting home alone in a filthy apartment, drowning his sorrows in beer.
But the "real" goal here 
is to make the best meal possible and show him the most glorious time, so that when he talks to his mom (my husband's aunt) on the phone about the holidays, he will mention he was at our place (Team SoCal) eating all this wonderful food that is better than hers (OUCH).
My husband is baffled how this "good deed" turned into such an evil plan. Mwahahahaha!
One year, we were anticipating so much fighting among family that when we were setting the table for Thanksgiving, my husband jokingly propped up a baby gate on the table, separating the two sides.
Hilarious. We left it up like that until everyone arrived. I've decided to engage in a little "pumpkin pie fight" myself this year.
My husband has this cousin -- early 50's, permanent bachelor, mild alcohol problem, depressed and lonely as can be. It's been this way for years and years. He's always gone over to his mom's house for the holidays. His mom is not a very nice lady. She's been rude to Mr. SoCal and I along with other family members. She spreads rumors and talks bad about the people she doesn't get along with. We haven't stayed in touch and haven't gone to her place for the holidays in a long time. Anyway, she's been doing the cooking for years. She prides herself on it. Meanwhile, we have our own separate Thanksgiving where I do the cooking.
She recently moved across the country, leaving her son (the permanent bachelor) and her other kids / grandkids behind. This man, my husband's cousin, said he's dreading the holidays this year because only has his sister's house to go to and he doesn't like her family.
Word got back to me. I got this great idea to invite him over to our place for Thanksgiving this year. My plan is to make all the best recipes and let him make some requests. I want him to feel like he has a place to go and still has family around who cares about him.... something to look forward to instead of sitting home alone in a filthy apartment, drowning his sorrows in beer.
But the "real" goal here is to make the best meal possible and show him the most glorious time, so that when he talks to his mom (my husband's aunt) on the phone about the holidays, he will mention he was at our place (Team SoCal) eating all this wonderful food that is better than hers (OUCH). My husband is baffled how this "good deed" turned into such an evil plan. Mwahahahaha!
I know who I'm better than and who I'm not. With Halloween, you just can't throw yourself into it like you can Thanksgiving and Christmas when all the family gets together. I still make an effort, but I don't make a spectacle like I do with the others- - Example: "Tombstone Cupcakes", "Spider Cupcakes", Mummy Dogs, Jack O'Lantern Quesadillas, Owl Eye cookies, witch's fingers, etc., but I'm not a huge fan of Halloween at all, so I just do small things for the kids. I'm more into the season, example: decorate for Autumn instead of Halloween. Christmas, now that is a different story! Thanksgiving and Christmas are the ones the families will discuss over the phone, word spreads, and they remember.