Thursday, November 28, 2013

Surviving Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Thought we could all use a few pointers on getting through the holiday meal with our more difficult relatives, so I have put together this handy dandy list of...Topics to avoid over turkey with your dysfunctional family:
Whether brandied sweet potatoes count as a serving of alcohol.
BPD vs. BPD (Bipolar personality disorder vs. borderline and which one is Uncle Charlie).
Why Cousin Isabelle keeps getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of dinner. (Especially tempting because you can get back on topic any time she leaves the room).
Whose pumpkin pie is better, Mom's or Aunt Lily's?
The fact that you're all eating in the living room because the dining room is piled high with twelve years worth of newspapers.
The latest changes in the DSM.
Is Great Aunt Ginevra senile or just a passive aggressive old bitch?
Look! Great Aunt Gretchen is slipping rolls into her purse again.
When is artistic Uncle Albert finally gonna come out.
Whether Cousin Damon will show, and if so, where to hide the carving knives.
Should you hide the butter knife too?
Does our yearly national mass turkey slaughter count as genocide under the Geneva convention?
Who really has celiac disease and who just wants to ruin dinner for the rest of us.
How come Dad always gets to eat the pope's nose. 
Why is grandma's frozen green bean and stale fried onions casserole a family tradition when nobody eats it?
Why is your sister dating yet another asshole and doesn't he have his own damn family to visit?
Is Uncle Ron off his meds again?
How many artificial ingredients are in cool whip? 
Did the pilgrims really drink straight vodka at the first Thanksgiving?
Could your brother's kids possibly be more obnoxious? (Wait, that's a rhetorical question). 
Can we please just get through grace without Cousin Barney going all militant atheist on us?
Can we please just get through grace without Cousin Sylvia trying to rebirth the skeptics? 
Was that weird striped pink thing in the bathroom a pregnancy test?
Since when does Cousin Alicia have double D's?
Does your parents' weird neighbor have a facial tic or has he just been winking at you for the past two hours?
Has carving a giant block of seitan into a turkey shape ever really fooled anyone?
If you're going to carve things into turkey shapes, wouldn't chocolate be a better choice?
How come movies about dysfunctional family Thanksgivings are so much funnier than the real deal?
And... the last two topics you should avoid at all costs discussing over the family feast:

Last Thanksgiving.

Next Thanksgiving.