W
and Auntie Karlene are fight-
ing again, over … what? Who’s
experienced the most suffering
in her lifetime? Really?
Sometimes you rock along
for a while and everything
is going fine, then someone
brings up politics in conver-
sation (YIKES!). Does the
host have to defuse the situ-
ation? Can’t we simply pass
out boxing gloves and wager
a little money on the larger
woman?
Just remember the words of
Dodie Smith, who said, “The
family — that dear octopus
from whose tentacles we
never quite escape, nor, in
our inmost hearts, ever quite
wish to.” It helps to recite this
under your breath, quietly, as
several pieces of your crys-
tal stemware shatters into a
million pieces on the floor, a
mishap that began when your
Aunt Millicent decided that
the grammar on your cousin
Eddie’s new girlfriend’s tattoos
was incorrect and took a red
felt-tip marker and tried to edit
them just as said love interest
was taking a sip. Seems the
new girlfriend was “a tad tick-
lish.”
Just remember the words of
Helen Keller, who said, “The
best and most beautiful things
in the world cannot be seen
or even touched. They must
e’ve been informed over
and over again that we
now live in something of a
“global community.”
We don’t all look alike,
anymore. We don’t worship
alike nor do we all celebrate
the same set of year-end
holidays. Some of us don’t
celebrate any at all. But almost
everyone either gets or takes
some time off during the last
couple of weeks of the year.
This creates an opportunity
to either travel to see your
family members or for them
to travel to see you (yikes!).
Festive family holiday fun
isn’t always a scene from
a Hallmark channel movie.
December is an opportu-
nity to experience great joy or
great stress, but often it’s a lot
of both. Each year, PCT shares
the tips and hacks of getting
the most out of the holidays
and spending time with family
and friends in Parker County.
If you’re the one doing the
traveling this year, you’re pretty
much on your own. Read us
next year.
Holidays shouldn’t be
stressful, but they
often are. Why? Because this
isn’t a perfect world, and no
matter how much we adore
our parents, grandparents,
siblings, cousins, our adult
children, our in-laws and
whomever they choose to
drag along to our home for
our family dinner, sometimes,
things get tense, or at the
least, awkward. Maybe it’s
Grandma losing her composure
because her meringue is fall-
ing (eventually, we all have to
deal with the tragedy of fall-
ing meringue), or Cousin Janie
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