How to Cope with Family Holidays
My husband comes from a tight Italian American family from Upstate New York. The extended clan often come together for a week or two every second year or so. It's both fun and suffocating for someone like me. See I come from a family that never took holidays ANYWHERE, in fact we never once went out to eat at a restaurant. My parents came to Australia in the 1950's escaping a beautiful Lebanon battered by poverty. We never followed rules (social ones I mean), I don't recall sitting at the dinner table because we usually ate in front of the telly (television) or out in the back yard. Don't get me wrong we had fun playing out on the road, jumping off the garage roof, swimming ALL DAY at Ryde pool on those sweltering hot summer days, hiding in the cornfields dad planted in our backyard!! Endless fun that cost not a penny.
As a grown up I have traveled extensively, eaten at numerous restaurants, and enjoyed the spoils of good living BUT it never feels the same as that simple unassuming lifestyle I had growing up.
Yes I have gone WAY off track but it's the backstory needed to understand the person that I am and why I struggle with family holidays.
So what of my poor husbands family? How do they deal with somebody like me when taking a holiday together? Well I've come up with a list and maybe some of these tips may help you:
Drink lots of wine, bottles of it and suddenly our differences or qualms seemed never to have existed
Embrace diversity, you love everybody the same no matter what because you're family
Say what you really think, don't hide behind a mask because breaking down the barriers forms deeper connections (after the tumultuous conflict of course)
Give each other space
Respects each others budgets and plan activities accordingly
Be active because the surging endorphin's are the best natural drugs you'll ever find
And when things do get tough remember this holiday will end and suddenly you'll miss everybody
While you're all together why not plan you next holiday to save everybody the headache of difficult long distance communication.
Hope this helps!
As a grown up I have traveled extensively, eaten at numerous restaurants, and enjoyed the spoils of good living BUT it never feels the same as that simple unassuming lifestyle I had growing up.
Yes I have gone WAY off track but it's the backstory needed to understand the person that I am and why I struggle with family holidays.
So what of my poor husbands family? How do they deal with somebody like me when taking a holiday together? Well I've come up with a list and maybe some of these tips may help you:
Drink lots of wine, bottles of it and suddenly our differences or qualms seemed never to have existed
Embrace diversity, you love everybody the same no matter what because you're family
Say what you really think, don't hide behind a mask because breaking down the barriers forms deeper connections (after the tumultuous conflict of course)
Give each other space
Respects each others budgets and plan activities accordingly
Be active because the surging endorphin's are the best natural drugs you'll ever find
And when things do get tough remember this holiday will end and suddenly you'll miss everybody
While you're all together why not plan you next holiday to save everybody the headache of difficult long distance communication.
Hope this helps!
Comments
Post a Comment