Posts Tagged: christmas eve

November 9, 2009

How to Survive a Family Christmas

Christmas Lights

We’ve all seen the image, right? It’s an image burnt into the most over-romanticized parts of our psyches. It’s the holiday vision of a warmly lit living room clogged with a gaggle of sweater-clad family members that span at least three – maybe four – generations. The jovial bunch maximize family benefit by intentionally situating themselves ’round a mahogany-stained coffee table decorated with a lovely scented pine cone/candle centerpiece and an over-sized coffee table book that no one reads. The intentional seating works! The face-to-face seating arrangement naturally encourages wide smiles and everyone secretly crosses their fingers and hopes for the return volley! But wait! Just as the tension of serving smiles and returning served smiles with even more smiles reaches its crescendo, someone relieves the building tension with a song! A random Christmas carol is confidently launched by the business savvy and financially successful older brother, and everyone joyfully accompanies him their heartiest singing voice! A younger sister who was just given a promotion at Goldman Sachs is happily sitting on the lap of her U. Penn alumnus who just so happens to be adored by everyone in the family – especially Dad! Young and old alike almost deify the matriarch with their praise for her mystifying and Martha Stuart-like ability to decorate for holidays. The six-year-old baby of the family is busy wowing his audience with his mastery of fourth grade level vocab as he solicits sips of eggnog from his aunties and uncles, who think he is just the cutest thing since sliced … oh I’ll spare you the cliche. This is Christmas? Really? Is it? Nah … Read more…