the new year - bring it on!

I'm back from the family shindig... and I was incredibly surprised! there was no snarly moments between members of my family... WOW! It seemed to go quite well, and there was only one awkward moment when mum said something she shouldn't have... but as I said no snarly moments...

I spent some time with various members of the family, and it was a lot of fun... though I also understand why it is I live further away from the family - it's good to have space.

Much smile? bring on the crosswords of the cryptic variety

The festive brunch time celebration and the couple of days following were bliss - eating, drinking (alcoholic and non alcoholic varieties of drinks naturally!), swimming, relaxing, spending time with the bf's family, playing cards, watching football etc...

I had an epic smile - one that I thought would herald in the new year.

Alas this is not to be... I don't exactly have my snarl on, but I've definately got smile failure.

I stayed home on Sunday night, spending time with the cat and trying to get more than 3 hours of sleep that night. The bf went out with his siblings and it seemed that things were going to be ok..

well it seems that there was a little too much drinking, words were had, and that the smile that I thought would pull me through my after-new-years-mostly-blood-and-soon-to-be-extended-meet-the-families-gathering-for-my-younger-sibling-and-the-live-in-partner, is not to be.

Instead I find myself calling a stack of people to find out what happened and listening to my bf vent, whilst the house cleaning I wanted to get done before NYE proper is getting further behind.

It looks like I've had to change my plans for the nye festivities - blah! And I think it will be easier to go solo to my blood and extended family shindig (no need to subject the bf to years of pent up everything thrown together at a special event!).

On a side, and smiley note, the Summer Herald has a guide to the cryptic crossword for those of us who don't quite get how to do them... I am epic smile when I sit down and do them!

Expectations

It seems there are some families that do end of year celebrations good and some families that don't... I think the main thing that separates the two types of families are expectations - whether or not people come with particular ideas of how the day should and shouldn't work and want to inflict those ideas on everyone else in attendence (my idea of bad bad bad end of year celebrations, from experience!).

Tomorrow I'm spending the day with the bf's family. A day where people largely hang out together, drink a little bit too much, eat a little bit too much, and most importantly no expectations from anybody. Of course there are the basic rules so that you don't offend the nice people - be polite/curteous, stay clothed in public, that kind of thing. And it makes for a very enjoyable day.

Compare with festive celebrations of the past, at my family, where for example you get screamed at by a sibling because the hug you gave another sibling was longer and you didn't set the table right. Mostly it becomes a passive aggressive seeth fest, then add alcohol and time and then watch as all the perceived hurts from birth come bubbling to the surface.

I'm really glad I'm going end of year stuff the bf's family. It's too bad we've got a "party" with my family in the New Year.

Wish I could escape those expectations - especially those of attending this family shin-dig...

Teh weekedn

To be honest, I find this time of year very very very stressful... In my childhood, the whole family together thing can induce expectations that often are not met and wind up causing issues/fights/grrrrness. That's before you even introduce the personality conflicts and include the extendedness of my family now.

Surprisingly, spending the 25/12 with the bf's family is not stressful at all. There's the panickyness of gift buying, but that's about it. There's food, games, gifts, tv watching, sleeping, and spending time together.

In a smiley way, I'm looking forward to it.

Quick List

Smile:

• being thanked for doing my job by a colleague (nice to be recognised...)
• having mid week wind down drinks at home with friends for a days debrief (I'm liking daylight savings more and more)
• winding down for the end of year close down (close to 3 weeks off - yee hah!)

Snarl:

• silly discussions that lead to people being cranky with each other!
• contemplating going home for a family meet and greet, and realising it is my family that will be the weird one (we'll need someone to be the ringmaster to at least divert attention)
• things to do list at work getting longer and longer and longer
• not knowing bureaucratic decisions I need for closure on certain things