you don't have to do that, Hec, although it is a nice thought. It's not really avoiding anybody from here(Although my family is overburdened with stingy dickwads) but those holidays are about a tradition and a stability and stuff that we haven't had around here for years...it's hard to find the Festive. There's only so much you can ask from cookies.

Joe and I are dreading the move back to Michigan simply because of the holidays. I have 2 family get to gethers, Joe's family (read: Mother) tends to be very whiny if we don't spend what she deems "enough" time with her. Tossing a baby into the mix, creates even more drama. For now, I'm glad we buy their gifts via Amazon, have them shipped, and spend Christmas monring just us. Opening gifts and making bad Jesus jokes.

you don't have to do that, Hec,

I don't have to do it. But you can't stop me if I want to do it! Mwahahahaha!

Well, I guess you could throw it in the garbage when you got it.

I dreaded Thanksgiving when we lived in Wyoming for a year. It was just Stephen and five-year-old Jake and me, pregnant with Ben, and since we were going east for Christmas, we couldn't do Thanksgiving, too.

But we got out the china, and made the big meal, and made paper turkeys out of traced handprints, and watched football snuggled on the couch, and it was one of the nicest holidays we ever had. And my families aren't particularly stressful at the holidays.

There's only so much you can ask from cookies.

Chandler: It isn't love, Mon. It's just food.

Set the rules in advance,Aimee. and Stick to 'em for a couple of years - then as em gets older you can flex - and look good. and of course, you can always talk about moving back to CA....

I'd never do that. My mom's still pissed off at ex-sf for running off with a shitkicker off theinternets and still taking "The Temptations Christmas" and her Pendergrass discs. She'd never forgive me.

I know my Mom rocks, but after some of these stories, I learn just how much. My mom insists that her married children with children spend Christmas morning at their own homes so they can create traditions of their own. They come to my parents' Christmas afternoon for the big meal and family gifts.

My dad's family gathering is usually the Saturday before Christmas, so that's nice. It's the day of that might get hairy. But then, Joe's family traditions change each year, so who knows.

Then I can say, "I'll be spending Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter at home this year. And you, my beloved [familial title here] are welcome to join me."

I've been making that invitation every year for the last 30 years. They came for Easter one time. The drive is too long for them, although magically shorter for me.