Etiquette question for alla y'all. A few months ago, my dad's side of the family had a reunion for the whole giant extended family, and I saw relatives I hadn't seen in years. One of my cousins who was there has a new wife, and I exchanged maybe 2 or 3 sentences with them (and this cousin is among those I haven't seen in years). His wife is expecting a baby in March, and I got a baby shower invitation today.

Can I just send a gift from their registry and a note? I might just be excessively post-holiday cranky today, but I feel like, Really? I haven't seen you for years, I didn't actually even know you were re-married or expecting a baby, and we exchanged maybe 3 sentences at the reunion, and you want me to go to a baby shower?

Send a small gift and skip the shower? Is that okay?

I think that's totally okay.

Of course that is ok , but they could be trying to reconnect - however awkardly

For those interested in seeing the family portrait commission DW got for me: [link] Still love it so much!

Steph, totally.

Glam, it's adorable!! Love it. Way to go, Glamwife!!

Went out with a couple of HS friends tonight - it had been at least a decade since I'd seen one, and almost two decades since they'd seen each other. We had a good time catching up, and the two hours went too quickly, but the place closed at ten and we were all clearly tired. I think bumping up my Zoloft is really zapping my energy, so I guess it's good I did it over the holidays.

Bed now. Tomorrow I get to see amyth!!!! And I hope Calli! And many other friends. Yay.

Send a small gift and skip the shower? Is that okay?

Oh yeah. It's more than okay.

I vote okay. An invitation does not obligate you to send a gift, IMNSHO.

Oh, on the shower thing, I agree with Vortex. No need to attend or even send a gift unless you want to. We included a few people in our shower invites that we were like, "Should we?" We did because we didn't want anyone to feel left out. But several of them RSVPed no and did not send a gift, which was absolutely fine. You should do what makes you comfortable. There will be many people showering them with gifts, I'm sure.

That's lovely, GC!

Steph, yeah, I'd go with a gift and card.

I made it home! The first plane required extra equipment to push it back through the accumulated snow and slush at the gate as well as de-icing, so it left late. That led to a mad dash through the Atlanta airport to make my connection just before the door shut. I offered the poor 6'6" bastard in the middle my aisle seat as a thank you to the travel gods. It took 20 minutes of wandering to find my car in the long term parking lot and my luggage has yet to show. But I don't care--I'm home!

God, I felt so bad for all the holiday travelers with this awful Xmas weather. We got really lucky; Iowa and MO were cold as fuck, but clear driving.

Tep, card and giftie are fine. I wouldn't fret a whit about it.