Christmas is a fun-filled time of fellowship with our family members and treasured friends. It is comfort food, sugar comas from all the goodies that our Great Aunt Clara Mae has always made, and secret gifts from a jolly fat man in a red suit for all the children. One of our fun-filled tradition is the pass around gift. Someone reads “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and you pass a gift that you supplied (under $10) on to the next person each time the word “the” is read aloud. As you can see in the first photo, lots of fun can be had and you never know what you end up with.
Some families (okay, LOTS of families) have the black sheep family member who causes all sorts of drama in the other 11 months of the year. Do you think they can behave for one month for the good of the family in the month of December? Oh, no!! Of course not!
For people who have a black sheep drama person in their family, Christmas can be horrendous! If you never have contact with the black sheep person throughout the year, it always ends up that you will have contact during the month of December. And if it could just be a pleasant dinner where you suffer through each other’s presence with a minimal of fuss, I would be so thankful and go light a candle of thanksgiving at church. I’m thinking that NOBODY is that lucky.
These family members suffer horribly during the time of Christmas season. They dread the confrontation worse than a root canal at the dentist. They grind their teeth for days before and after the Day of Confrontation (we could start a trend that sounds like a religious Feast Day). They don’t sleep at night worrying about what is going to happen but knowing to the depth of their souls that something will certainly be happening.
If you have a friend with this kind of family that dreads the holiday season, I suggest that you have to be as supportive as you possibly can. It is like the cold weather warning to check on the elderly and pets. During the Christmas season, check on your close friends (or maybe it is even part of your family like a 3rd cousin) who have families with drama. Check on them frequently, go out to eat with them, take them shopping and give them plenty of opportunities to vent.
You don’t have to have any solutions. Just having someone to talk to about the situation is a stress reliever. It is such a struggle for them to make it through the holiday. They dread it like the plague, yet each and every year here it is again looking them right in the face. They need your support. Be thankful you get to laugh and have fun and eat Great Aunt Clara Mae’s Russian tea cakes. It could be worse.
2ndchanceauthor 