I am so glad that the holidays are finally over and things are getting back to normal. No matter how much you love your family and friends, the holidays are stressful, especially when everybody converges all at once. There were a lot of little spats going on behind the scenes in my house. So, here are 7 holiday fights you may have had – does anything sound familiar?
Whose year is it? Do you go to your parents' house, or your partner's parents' house? Do they come to yours? Which set? But that's not fair! You were with them last year! Yeah, but the year before that, we were with yours! What? One of the most typical fights of the holiday season, deciding who does what, where, and when can be seriously stressful – and it has all the keg powder necessary to cause a fight.
Money really is the root of all evil. It can cause a fight at any point of the year. There might not be a holiday in sight, and money is still an issue. During the holidays, however, it's a hundred times worse. How much is there? What do you have to spend it on? Where does it all go? Give it back! You spent too much!
Traveling, too, causes stress no matter when you do it. What I discovered this holiday season is that it can also cause trouble even if you're not the one traveling. You have fights by proxy, about who's traveling when, why they're doing it, why they have to do it, why they won't stop doing it … it gets confusing as well as frustrating!
Are you going to see your friends or are they coming to see you? Is it your year to host dinner or is it someone else's turn? Why do you have to go to their house? You want to go somewhere else. Yeah, but your friends want to come here. Akin to the in-law argument, this fight is just all convoluted and confusing – and everybody ends up at your house anyway.
You get someone a great gift – several of them! You get them everything on their list! You're so happy you got them what you wanted! And you get … a gift card. Or a pair of gloves. Or a set of potholders. Suddenly your mood plummets, even though you know it shouldn't, and you spend the rest of your night venting your frustration at your partner by hissing in his or her ear.
Oh ugh. Do you know what your mother just said to me? Well, guess what your dad just did? I don't even care, because your aunt just grievously offended me! Oh yeah? Well, your second cousin twice removed is never welcome in this house again!
These fights are inevitable, but they really suck – because what can you do? No one wants to have a confrontation during the holidays. Better just to snipe at each other behind closed doors and then flash a great big smile anytime someone asks you if everything's okay! (Guilty, by the way!)
Time, man. It's even worse than money, because it's free and it still leads to battles. When you're going, what time you need to get there, how early you want to be. And if you need an extra fifteen minutes, or – gasp! – an hour, you are sooo going to pay for it!
I dealt with some of these. That is all I have to say about that! What about you? C'mon, give, what kinds of holiday spats did you suffer through?
Top Photo Credit: goatmanbaldy - Proud Extremist Right Wing Wacko