BoomerD
No Lifer
- Feb 26, 2006
- 66,259
- 14,684
- 146
My wife & I are the old ones in the family nowadays. Parents & grandparents are all gone. We live about 1000 miles from where we grew up, so there's no contact with any of her aunts/uncles anymore since her folks died.
Our son lives in Houston and couldn't come home this year because of work, her older brother lives in Sacramento (about 100 miles away) but he's a drunk and a pot-head and is always too fucked up to drive that far...so once again, it was just us, our daughter, and 3 grandkids for Christmas eve and part of Christmas day. (that's long enough, thank you very much)
In many ways, I miss Christmases of old, when everyone would gather at my grandmother's house (grandparents were long-divorced) for Christmas day and dinner.
No drinking was allowed, (other than a bottle of cheap Manischewitz wine)
so no drunken arguments...although my grandparents STILL argued politics...which is what caused them to divorce in the 1940's.
Christmas eve was always spent with my in-laws...and there was booze aplenty, yet still no drunken brawls or arguments. They had a fully finished basement with a full wet-bar, pool table, and room to dance if you were so inclined.
Since all the old folks have passed, and we've moved to Kahleeforneeya where it doesn't snow, we've both more-or-less lost the Christmas spirit...it just doesn't seem like Christmas anymore.
Sometimes I miss the old days.
Our son lives in Houston and couldn't come home this year because of work, her older brother lives in Sacramento (about 100 miles away) but he's a drunk and a pot-head and is always too fucked up to drive that far...so once again, it was just us, our daughter, and 3 grandkids for Christmas eve and part of Christmas day. (that's long enough, thank you very much)
In many ways, I miss Christmases of old, when everyone would gather at my grandmother's house (grandparents were long-divorced) for Christmas day and dinner.
No drinking was allowed, (other than a bottle of cheap Manischewitz wine)
so no drunken arguments...although my grandparents STILL argued politics...which is what caused them to divorce in the 1940's. Christmas eve was always spent with my in-laws...and there was booze aplenty, yet still no drunken brawls or arguments. They had a fully finished basement with a full wet-bar, pool table, and room to dance if you were so inclined.
Since all the old folks have passed, and we've moved to Kahleeforneeya where it doesn't snow, we've both more-or-less lost the Christmas spirit...it just doesn't seem like Christmas anymore.
Sometimes I miss the old days.
very hard to predict.
in 2003, my older brother started out the conversation by asking me, first thing, what i thought about the Iraq War. what i said is not what he wanted to hear; my mistake for not seeing the impending pothole.
this year, i had gifts for all the kids - i gave them all shiny silver stuff, which i knew ahead of time they go crazy for. also, they are old enough to start swimming & surfing, so between talking about gifts for the kids & their various progresses on the swimming & surfing front, we avoided politics.
also, although my older brother has the MBA, he has conceded that i might know more about economic stuff. so he is willing to talk to me about economic stuff, including the serious economic stuff i LOVE talking about (e.g. mortgage backed securities, bank reserves, etc. he's a VP at a large financial firm).
e.g. Mr. Tilson #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kunB4SnAh4g&feature=player_embedded
& Mr. Tilson #2
http://sastocks.files.wordpress.com...resentation_on_the_mortgage_crisis_6_6_08.pdf
he had already read Tilson's June 2008 analysis of mortgage backed securities, so when i asked my brother about one particular credit derivative product that was analyzed at that particular conference, he didn't get all uncomfortable and accuse me of "talking about bad news."
anyway, by creating good vibes with good gifts, and sticking to subjects of mutual interest, all went well.
Hayabusa Rider
Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
- Jan 26, 2000
- 50,879
- 4,268
- 126
Vonkhan
Diamond Member
- Feb 27, 2003
- 8,198
- 0
- 71
Aaaah yes ... time to let it all hang out
My gf's mom and brother descended on us on the 22nd, left today morning. And guess what, they brought a friend, O JOY!
After 6 days of the brat whining about the places in NYC that he didn't get to see + the geriatric friend who came all this way just to want to stay at home and snooze + the gf's mom trying to convince me to move to Atlanta + the gf getting mad at me for not wanting to be a chaperon to the brat ...
AAAAAAAAAA FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK
like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer 'cuz it feels SO GOOD when u stop
My gf's mom and brother descended on us on the 22nd, left today morning. And guess what, they brought a friend, O JOY!
After 6 days of the brat whining about the places in NYC that he didn't get to see + the geriatric friend who came all this way just to want to stay at home and snooze + the gf's mom trying to convince me to move to Atlanta + the gf getting mad at me for not wanting to be a chaperon to the brat ...
AAAAAAAAAA FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK
like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer 'cuz it feels SO GOOD when u stop
For five of the families, I don't want to see them. For the other two, about a week, give or take a few days.
Any holiday that includes others than my very immediate family I already regret going.
My mom's youngest brother is a brat and owes a decent chunk of change to his mother, however since he is now married with two income, he still feels he doesn't owe her anything. He was invited to a dinner with my grandmother since she moved into an apt and he declined, because he received his Christmas bonus and wanted to go shopping.
My dad's side of the family is annoying and unbearable now that my grandmother on my dad's side has died.
One uncle is huge and likes to give bear-hugs and talk like Elvis or Billy Ray Citrus (Cyrus..thinks it is funny to say Citrus instead)...I am 28, I no longer need a bear-hug and I don't care to receive voice mails from Billy Ray Citrus. Now he brings his 13-yo daughter to my parents, so while we are all eating I get to stare at a 13-yo with a phone in her face while chewing her food.
Another uncle is the poster-child for abortion and contraceptives. His wife is bi-polar who does not appear to take her medication and both the son and daughter have learning disabilities or their parents never taught them how to behave, which I am more apt to believe the latter. My uncle himself is a deadbeat who likes to blame others for his shortcomings and blames my dad for his part of the inheritance that their mother left; felt he deserved more of the inheritance since his dad and my grandmother were still together when they died, even though the entire inheritance was from my grandmother's 401K, my grandfather laughed at her when she started putting money into a 401K and didn't contribute any(my dad and other brothers have different dads) and no longer talks to my dad and his other brothers. Recently we heard through the grapevine he moved back to Mesquite (about 15 min from downtown Dallas) and I dread running into him
Another uncle does not seem to know how to handle money, always broke even though he makes at least as much as I do at my current job, but used to blow it on alcohol, lottery and scratch-off tickets. He got hit up for a DUI and has since straightened up, stopped drinking alcohol and has lost a significant amount of weight.
My mom's youngest brother is a brat and owes a decent chunk of change to his mother, however since he is now married with two income, he still feels he doesn't owe her anything. He was invited to a dinner with my grandmother since she moved into an apt and he declined, because he received his Christmas bonus and wanted to go shopping.
My dad's side of the family is annoying and unbearable now that my grandmother on my dad's side has died.
One uncle is huge and likes to give bear-hugs and talk like Elvis or Billy Ray Citrus (Cyrus..thinks it is funny to say Citrus instead)...I am 28, I no longer need a bear-hug and I don't care to receive voice mails from Billy Ray Citrus. Now he brings his 13-yo daughter to my parents, so while we are all eating I get to stare at a 13-yo with a phone in her face while chewing her food.
Another uncle is the poster-child for abortion and contraceptives. His wife is bi-polar who does not appear to take her medication and both the son and daughter have learning disabilities or their parents never taught them how to behave, which I am more apt to believe the latter. My uncle himself is a deadbeat who likes to blame others for his shortcomings and blames my dad for his part of the inheritance that their mother left; felt he deserved more of the inheritance since his dad and my grandmother were still together when they died, even though the entire inheritance was from my grandmother's 401K, my grandfather laughed at her when she started putting money into a 401K and didn't contribute any(my dad and other brothers have different dads) and no longer talks to my dad and his other brothers. Recently we heard through the grapevine he moved back to Mesquite (about 15 min from downtown Dallas) and I dread running into him
Another uncle does not seem to know how to handle money, always broke even though he makes at least as much as I do at my current job, but used to blow it on alcohol, lottery and scratch-off tickets. He got hit up for a DUI and has since straightened up, stopped drinking alcohol and has lost a significant amount of weight.
BurnItDwn
Lifer
- Oct 10, 1999
- 26,352
- 1,861
- 126
Depends on who ...
My sister and bro in law are kinda spoiled, but usually I get along with them all right.
My folks, aunts, uncles, and cousins (aside from one aunt, uncle and cousin who act very spoiled), are all cool and they don't make me crazy at all. The same is true of my grandparents on my dad's side.
Then there's my grandma on my mom's side. Don't get me wrong, I love her dearly, but ... she is, and always has been, crazy, and also, she is more stubborn than I am. Everyone in the family clashes with her on a pretty regular basis... usually within the first 15 minutes of seeing her ....
My sister and bro in law are kinda spoiled, but usually I get along with them all right.
My folks, aunts, uncles, and cousins (aside from one aunt, uncle and cousin who act very spoiled), are all cool and they don't make me crazy at all. The same is true of my grandparents on my dad's side.
Then there's my grandma on my mom's side. Don't get me wrong, I love her dearly, but ... she is, and always has been, crazy, and also, she is more stubborn than I am. Everyone in the family clashes with her on a pretty regular basis... usually within the first 15 minutes of seeing her ....
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