Seasonal weird

[kageygirl]

The forcible repression has begun, wherein I remind myself of all the things I should do/not do in order to make The Boy's nice, normal, small-town, occasionally very family-values family, um, not burn me at that pile of chopped-down tree behind the house. (You know, like swearing. Or upholding the rights of gays and minorities. Or mentioning my hobby of writing slash.) And I tell myself that I should do these things, really, and just avoid the potential trauma, which means days of, y'know, half-lying and deflecting questions ("so, what are you writing these days?" "oh, nothing for publication...") and keeping my mouth shut and not rising to the bait when the scary grandparents say really judgmental things. Ah, holidays, gotta love 'em. And most of the time I can't even play on the Internet to keep myself out of trouble. (Though, hey, this year I have the laptop, and headphones, and all the episodes of Atlantis on the hard drive, even if there's no Net connection in the house. Score!)

I guess I should take off the goth-club black nail polish before we drive down there on Thursday. *g*

In the meantime, I have a couple more days to screw around with capturing vid and attempting to screencap DH and JF in various and sundry roles. Question: if I'm capturing vid, does anyone really care about the parts that don't have the boys on screen? (Y'know, that "plot" thang.) Or are we all just in it for teh pretty?

Comments

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

/sympathy/

My spouse's family is similar. Mine is small town, but his manages to be both WASP and Catholic.

We were with them this weekend. Surprisingly, it was less painful than usual. But I love climbing back into the closet for these little get togethers.

Yes, yes, I do.

[kageygirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. It's great fun. And the getting dragged to church, too, to watch my father-in-law preach, that's just icing.

My FIL is a UCC lay minister (only since The Boy was in college, though; he didn't grow up as a preacher's kid), and he's ironically the coolest and most tolerant of the bunch. My MIL is nuts, having severe empty-nest syndrome, off her meds, and far too inclined to meddle with her children's lives; my SIL is Catholic; the scary grandparents are Methodist, and so righteous that they, really, know the best way to do absolutely everything, are completely willing to tell you that, and make my MIL even crazier.

And there are usually 10 or more people in the house at once, when I grew up an only child whose parents were divorced when I was quite young. I just--don't deal well with that many high-maintenance people.

I end up eating way too much chocolate.

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

And the getting dragged to church, too, to watch my father-in-law preach, that's just icing.

Ouch. At least I only have to go to church for funerals and weddings.

How long will you be gone, again? Because it sounds distinctly unpleasant.

I know exactly what you mean about too damn many people. I wasn't an only child, but I was one of two. The spouse is one of four. Add in the spouses and kids and it gets a bit crowded. The worst part is that they're all so normal. The kids are normal, too. They play football and the only granddaughter wears pink dresses and worships Hillary Duff. My child prefering to sit in a corner and read provokes snide remarks. If I thought I could get away with it I'd join him.

My brother may be an alcoholic, and my father may watch far too much Fox news, but at least they aren't normal.

[kageygirl.livejournal.com]

Leaving Thursday, coming back Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm aiming for Tuesday, though I'm sure it will piss The Boy off. And I'm going to try to sneak off to the public library every now and then. Half-mile walk in 30 degree weather? I'll take it.

Oh, god, the normal! Yeah, the in-laws do church bake sales and potluck dinners and things, nephew plays basketball and soccer, niece takes ballet... Ironically, when they're all gathered together in the living room watching football, The Boy is often--sitting there reading a book. Leaving me to founder for an activity. And when I have the laptop out, people keep trying to read over my shoulder. Not so good for the smut-writing.

My dad is himself quite bizarre, but pretty much in many of the exact same ways I am (since he made me like this *g*), so we get along great. And my stepmother is a nutbar who believes things like Atlantis (the Earthly one) really existing, but she's way more laid-back in her crazy than the MIL. Normal disturbs me greatly.

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

Normal disturbs me greatly.

Me, too.

Although not as much as Rodney with orange juice.

Or the fact that I can't make cookies. Cakes, pies, bread, no problem. But cookies? They tend to be funny shaped and overcooked and that's before I accidentally stick my sleeve in the frosting.

Ah, the holidays.

[miera-c.livejournal.com]

I feel slightly bad that the only real source of tension in my family is whether my spoiled oldest child oldest brother and his family will arrive on Christmas Eve in a timely manner.

Well that and hoping the most liberal of my liberal siblings keeps her frelling mouth shut around our registered Conservative father.

But then I'm the youngest of six and crowds still bother me. Hence the Xanax tucked into my toiletry bag.

*cuddles kagey*

[kageygirl.livejournal.com]

Shoot, I think being the youngest of six gives you more than enough reason to be freaked by crowds.

*cuddles miera right back, and not just 'cause it's frelling cold*

[fanaddict.livejournal.com]

You're holidays sound like my holidays - except it's my parents who are fundies, and my mother who has become crazy. Still, because they are blood relatives and can't disown me (nor I them...) I don't hold back... A family gathering without screaming is no gathering at all. Except my family is so WASPy no one actually screams, there's just deep sighs and condescending comments from all around.

Weirdly enough, my grandparents are the most tolerant ones. I took a course in Queer History at university, and my parents freaked but my grandparents thought it was pretty cool. Even more odd - my parents love my husband ("despite" him being Jewish and therefore not quite acceptable in their fundie world), and get along with him better than me...

Family = people you would never deal with if you weren't related to them but must love them despite their best efforts to make you crazy

[kageygirl.livejournal.com]

Except my family is so WASPy no one actually screams, there's just deep sighs and condescending comments from all around.

Ooh, see, that's what I grew up with, too, so I'm completely used to that. What with the early divorce, I didn't tend to see a ton of fights, and when there's only two or three people in the house at any given point, that weight of cold disapproval is much more serious. My MIL, on the other hand, will completely freak out, and scream at the FIL, and that just makes me twitchy as hell. I haven't mastered the art of pretending it's not happening.

Family = people you would never deal with if you weren't related to them but must love them despite their best efforts to make you crazy

Heh. For me it's the stepfamily and the in-laws, since I'm pretty much down to just my dad and grandmother, blood-relationwise. I suppose this is how the universe tells me it's not done screwing with me on the home front. *g*