I get depressed anticipating being around my family and then afterwards I get into a big funk reliving the day. I'm thinking this year I am going to skip it altogether. But am wondering if there are others out there who feel as strongly about this as I do and how do you handle it.
Let me add that I do strongly believe in God and think sometimes that is why I hate Christmas so much cause it's so commercial and the ads on t.v. and the Christmas movies make me want to gag.
But. My guy and I let the extended family know that our house would be “the place” for family to drop in on Christmas Day and see his 83-y.o. mother. A.K.A their mother, MIL, grandmother or great-grandmother.
[She’s a pretty zippy 83-y.o., BTW. Has a bad hip and doesn’t drive, but everything above the ears is firing on all cylinders. She’s a much better conversationalist than most people her age - and a lot of people who are half her age. She does not live with us. She & the daughter she lives with planned to spend Christmas at our house. So we opened the invitation to everyone. Easy peasy.]
Make it convenient for everyone. No pressure. Come as you are.
NO-SHOWS. Every last one of them. Even though they said “yes” during the flurry of calls texts before Christmas.
Awkward and embarrassing. Even tho my guy and I did nothing wrong.
Some context on this crap-out guest list: Two of the households are 10 miles away. One household is 5 miles away. The other household is 5 blocks away.
Sure sure, no expectations. That’s the modern-day advice. I really try to follow it.
But I’m not sure our 83-y.o. matriarch got the memo. 😐
A line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley, meaning the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Truth!
Having said that I, and I am sure you, have some opinions about those that did not come and visit the family matriarch, that I will not voice, and they are not pleasant.