My family spells our last name D-y-s-f-u-n-c-t-i-o-n. That's right, dysfunction. And you know what, it's not just my immediate family, as it turns out my entire family tree on either side all have the same last name! Freaky. Hey, want to invite the Dysfunctions over? Sure, they're always good for amusement. Did you hear about that family that is getting together 2 WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS AT 11:30 AM to celebrate Christmas? Why no I didn't! Yes, it's the DYSFUNCTION family. Dad Dysfunction, Mom Dysfunction, Big Brother Dysfunction, Little Sister Dysfunction, Aunt and Uncle Dysfunction and all our little Dysfunction cousins!
Riddle me this: what kind of family, FAMILY, gets together TWO weeks (14 days or 336 hours) before Christmas, at 11:30 AM to celebrate?
My family. My insane, dysfunctional, related only by blood and name, completely ridiculous family. Hey everyone, let's celebrate Christ's birth by pretending we're only friends and scheduling a convenient time DURING LUNCH. What better way to help our nieces and nephews and grandchildren bond and grow together? That's right, over ham and pie, early enough before Christmas that everyone forgets that we even met. I mean, we only meet once a year anyway, why make it special? Why make it memorable? Why even try?
That's why when I have a family (there, I said it) we're getting together for Christmas no earlier than 2 days before Christmas and I am living in a house big enough for everyone to stay over. Heck, we might just all stay together for the entire time from Christmas to New Years. Why not? We'll bake and cook and eat and drink and play cards from dawn till dusk. We'll make snowmen (because God couldn't possibly deny us snow-- um...please Lord?) and we'll decorate cookies. I'll have my parents over (they're pretty awesome) and brothers and sister and my husband can have his family over and the adults will stay up late and drink wine and no matter what differences may pop up, we'll work through them. Our house will be lit with candles and pine scents from our tree and pine boughs and lights will be everywhere! And we'll have Wassil and Mulled Cider and Mulled wine. We'll stay up late and talk about Christ and the incredible passion of Christ and his love for us. We'll argue theology and discuss books and poems and the like.
That is when we will no longer be a dysfunctional family. Then and only then.
2 comments:
Several thoughts come to mind.
The first thing is "Riddle me this". That's funny. I used to say that all the time. I think maybe I used to watch way too much Batman.
The next thing is that maybe there is a good reason for celebrating Christmas so early. 2 weeks before hand does seem a bit much but I know in my family it can be difficult to get everyone together. My brother has his in-laws to go to and my sister has hers. So, I know that it is not easy for my mom to plan a time for everyone to get together.
I'm assuming that you have already made your objections known to your family members. And I know that you didn't ask for advice but I will offer some anyway. If your family does have a reason that they have offered for getting together so early, even if it is not a good reason, then just make your feelings know to them once and then drop it. I like to think of the word FAMILY as an acronym - Forget About Me, I Love You. I think that one of the hardest things a person can do is to die to themselves and let someone else have their way. But I think that this is someting that just has to be done sometimes in a family to keep the peace.
And my 3rd thought is that your plans for Christmas with your (future) family sound nice. I have had similar thoughts.
God bless,
James
So, how did "Christmas" go?
Post a Comment