The Holidays are coming and that means we will have to attend family gatherings and feel the stress from all those mean or just annoying relatives. I am already dreading the days developements and by that morning I will have made myself a nervous wreck. I will try to be a little late on purpose so my car is not blocked in and I can make a break for it. I believe 2 hours is more than enough time to spend with these wonderfully entertaining, in a horror film kinda way or at best "Married With Children", family members.

Let's support each other and make each other laugh a little before the day begins. Hopefully it will bring that little smirk to us as we sit and listen or watch the holiday displays in our own homes or homes we visit.

Personally, I will be visiting a home with full contact kitchen cleaning after the meal. Everyone has to out-do each other with their helpfulness. They will break out the broom as a last resort, which can act as a hockey stick, tripping someone. I will wander off and sit with the men who will be listening to that one family member yelling at the TV sport of their choice and controlling the TV as though they were still a teenager in the house, 25 years later... I will eventually get my husband to play a game with a few people, as everyone else gossips or falls asleep on the couch, both groups discussing their failed diets as they drink there sodas and beer and eat their 3rd plate of food piled high, exclaiming that they shouldn't. With any luck one of the drunks will get drunk to give the rest of us some entertainment. If that is the best I can hope for, I will take it!! No one wanting to leave first, as they know that as soon as the door closes they are discussed in a news worthy way, as though they were reporters for a tabloid, sitting around the board room discussing ideas for the next issue.

I hope this makes you laugh and find a funny way to explain how your holiday will unfold. Best of Luck!

Turn it into a game with your family. Make a bingo card with things like "Uncle Bill hogging the tv remote" ...... "Aunt Sally makes snide comment about someone's outfit" ...... Nephew Bobby is dressed in dorky outfit that his mom thinks is "cute"" ...... "Grampa farts and blames the dog" .....

You KNOW this stuff is going to happen, so just sit back and enjoy the show! It's much more fun than hoping it won't happen ... because it will happen. So just turn it into a game.

We did this one year .... it was really fun! And it was hard NOT to give each other a high-five when we mentally crossed an item off the list!

Oh the joys of family holidays. We have the choice between my grandma's overcrowded house, my parents with my brother there or my husband's aunts where dinner will be cold and 3 hours late.

We don't normally travel for Christmas or Thanksgiving so we have to go visit my husband's side.

We can count on the B!$@% being there with her brat, she likes to tell him to throw things inside and is currently not talking to anyone in the familiy. One of the aunts never wears a bra and sometimes stuff peaks out from the bottom of her shirt. One of the uncles was at a family meal once and it was obvious that he'd peed his pants.

This year I talked my husband into saying that I could cook a meal at home and we'll just go up to say hi. He really doesn't like a cold meal and the kids get crabby because they've been waiting to eat for hours.

For those who dread the Horrible Holidays, may I suggest you create your own holiday traditions.

My ex husband had one good idea in his life: He suggested that I have the kids on Thanksgiving and he get them the Friday after. That way, we could both enjoy a nice dinner with them and they kids wouldn't be stuffed from too many big dinners. We grabbed the opportunity to let our families know that we are going NOWHERE on thanksgiving because it became the only holiday we didn't have to share with the ex. It was all ours! we created our holiday tradition of buying a new game for us to play each thanksgiving and we still do it 20+ years later.

I worked with a lady who was in total confusion one year because gramma died. "Where are we going to go for thanksgiving?" She had no idea how to do a holiday with her own family because she had been too busy doing a holiday with everyone else's family.

So if you don't like your current traditions that you feel forced to participate in .... draw the line in the sand and start creating your own traditions! Remember .... someday, YOU'LL be "gramma's house"!

The holidays can be so stressful, for those that have families and even harder on those that don't or who live away and can't travel home.

Since my brother is in the Air Force and I've lived away at times and couldn't come home, and my husbands family lives 8 hours north of us, we no longer really have any family "traditions". For Thanksgiving, we'll go to my parent's church, where they have a great meal, no $200 spent on groceries and even better, no cleanup and all day cooking. At times, our small group from church gets together but it isn't happening this year either. I'll spend next weekend decorating my house for Christmas and finishing up (hopefully) the bathroom that we are currently "freshening up" with new fixtures and new paint.

At times, we've invited someone who will be by themselves on Thanksgiving because I love to cook for a huge group, my family is just not too big.

Debi, I love your idea about the bingo game. My best friend is a college professor and some of her students had a bingo game on words and phrases she said and it was hilarious. What a great way to make it fun!

I always have my DH's family for Thanksgiving and my family for Christmas Eve.

My family is very traditional..........my DH's not so much.

My in-laws live in PA so they also sleep at my house along with my BIL.

The first time I hosted I couldn't believe how they all came to the table, filled their plates, ate without ANY conversation, and were gone from the table before I had finished my salad. My first thought was, I've been cooking for 2 days and it's over in 15 minutes so they can watch the football game!

Well 25yrs later little has changed, except instead of placing the food out buffet style, I serve the soup and salad courses first and than the turkey and fixings. I kind of "hold them hostage" if you will...........I figure if we only get together once a year for a holiday with them, they can at least spend an hour at the table.

As long as I keep the wine flowing I can get through it with a smile.....and I keep reminding myself that I do it for my DH.