Letters from North
America
Anyone
who has had married
children or in laws of
their own should be able
to identify with what
I’m about to say. This
time of the year (the
holiday season) puts an
enormous amount of
stress on family
relationships.
The major decision to be
made is… who goes where
without hurting anyone’s
feelings? If we went to
your parents house last
Thanksgiving, do we go
to mine this year? If we
all get together at our
house for Christmas,
where do we go next
year? The problem seems
to only get worse once
your children go off and
get married. Now, we
have to deal with the
in-laws of their
spouses. So, it keeps on
getting more difficult
as the years wear on.
The stress of trying to
put everyone together in
one place at one time
seems almost impossible
at times.
Some families try to
hold family reunions
every so often and
rotate these from place
to place as conditions
allow. Here again, we
run into the obstacle of
getting everyone from
one place to another for
several days and nights
at a time. Distances and
work schedules tend to
put a crimp in plans and
expectations.
I’ve dealt with this
issue all of my life.
Some of the most
stressful periods in my
life have occurred as a
result of my parents
fighting over where to
go and when they should
go. My Mother’s parents
or my Father’s? There
didn’t seem to be any
clear cut plan or simple
method of resolving the
issue from one year to
another.
Like most families, our
kids live in different
places. Fortunately, we
all live in the same
state so it isn’t like
some of them have to
travel from one part of
the world to get here.
Just trying to
coordinate with
everyone’s schedule is
really the hardest part.
I suppose I’m somewhat
slow, but it has taken
me all of these years to
get to a possible
solution. This year I
rented a six bedroom,
six bath beach house for
Labor Day. Everyone is
off that weekend and not
many of us have
so-called family
obligations like we do
for Thanksgiving and
Christmas, so it seemed
like the perfect holiday
for all of us to get
together. I was not
wrong.
So, for the first time
in about thirteen years,
my wife and I ended up
spending three wonderful
days with our four sons,
our three daughters in
laws, our two
granddaughters and we
had a great time. They
laughed, played games,
cooked, played in the
sand and in the ocean
and just chilled out.
The perfect holiday.
No one got stressed out,
no one got upset, no
arguments and no
conflicts with any one
else’s parents or
in-laws. This is going
to be our time of the
year. We discussed where
everyone is spending
Thanksgiving and
Christmas, so that’s out
of the way, over and
done with. We can move
on to next year.
Everything went great
except for the required
family photo. Trying to
get eleven people in the
same place at the same
time to sit still for a
picture is harder than
you think. Some were at
the beach, some were at
lunch, some were
asleep….so it isn’t easy
to corral everyone
together for ten minutes
and try to grab a group
shot. I finally managed
to get it done and then
I could leave everyone
alone for the remainder
of the weekend. Those
pictures are very
important to me.
Everyone changes so
quickly, especially the
grandchildren. I want a
record of those changes.
This was my only
requirement for the
entire weekend…..
Sitting around listening
to all of my family talk
to one another and
discuss things fills my
heart to the brim. I
wouldn’t trade those
moments for anything. To
me this is what life I
all about. Just being
around them makes me
want to try harder and
keep on going. We have
so much to be thankful
for and so many
opportunities still out
there waiting for us to
grab hold of.
Life is full of stress
and strain on each of
us. We all need to take
a few days out of our
schedules and spend time
with those that we love.
Family is the true
foundation of our
society,
In my house this is an
on going issue. When we
moved earlier this year,
we were forced to
confro year I rented a
six bedroom, six bath
beach house for Labor
Day. Everyone is off
that weekend and not
many of us have
so-called family
obligations like we do
for Thanksgiving and
Christmas, so it seemed
like the perfect holiday
for all of us to get
together. I was not
wrong.
So, for the first time
in about thirteen years,
my wife and I ended up
spending three wonderful
days with our four sons,
our three daughters in
laws, our two
granddaughters and we
had a great time. They
laughed, played games,
cooked, played in the
sand and in the ocean
and just chilled out.
The perfect holiday.
No one got stressed out,
no one got upset, no
arguments and no
conflicts with any one
else’s parents or
in-laws. This is going
to be our time of the
year. We discussed where
everyone is spending
Thanksgiving and
Christmas, so that’s out
of the way, over and
done with. We can move
on to next year.
Everything went great
except for the required
family photo. Trying to
get eleven people in the
same place at the same
time to sit still for a
picture is harder than
you think. Some were at
the beach, some were at
lunch, some were
asleep….so it isn’t easy
to corral everyone
together for ten minutes
and try to grab a group
shot. I finally managed
to get it done and then
I could leave everyone
alone for the remainder
of the weekend. Those
pictures are very
important to me.
Everyone changes so
quickly, especially the
grandchildren. I want a
record of those changes.
This was my only
requirement for the
entire weekend…..
Sitting around listening
to all of my family talk
to one another and
discuss things fills my
heart to the brim. I
wouldn’t trade those
moments for anything. To
me this is what life I
all about. Just being
around them makes me
want to try harder and
keep on going. We have
so much to be thankful
for and so many
opportunities still out
there waiting for us to
grab hold of.
Life is full of stress
and strain on each of
us. We all need to take
a few days out of our
schedules and spend time
with those that we love.
Family is the true
foundation of our
society.
