Daniel

I am at the relatives house using their computer. Conversation with the relatives has dragged ever since the orginal small talk yesterday. The men are all watching TV and the women are at the mall. I flew 2000 miles and waited in lines at security for nearly 3 hours for this?

Was it worth it for you?

Gregory

And its only Christmas Eve???

Mom

My son traveled 4 hours by bus to get to the plane,11 hours on the plane, 1/2 hour to get to the house from the airport..he says it was worth it.:0)Mom

Stu

Face it, most of us understand that the relatives are a bunch of bores and the period of late December is not very nice unless you are in Florida. We do it for our wives.

ho

NO. After two days of icy driving conditions in 1998, we arrived at the relatives only to be confronted with an ice storm and power blackout which lasted for three days. Try visiting the relatives with NO television for days -- you'll be begging for it!

greg

It all depends on the quality of your relationship with your relatives. I drove 10 hours from Toronto to be with my big sister in NYC and it was worth it. Every single second.

Anon

Let's face it. We all go through this ritual of going to visit the relatives because everything we see in the media tells us that that's what we should be doing at the holidays. Deep down, we all know that staying cooped up in a house with people we may not even care for that much with nothing to do but watch television and try to make small talk is probably not going to be all that enjoyable. At the same time, a lot of people don't have anywhere to go or anyone to spend the time with, so we should be thankful for what we have. Its too bad that the holiday season is becoming something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

ThinkAbout

For all those with the urge to whine about spending time with family members,now might be a good time to remember the people (something like 3-4,000 people) who will not be spending the holidays with a family member-having just lost them on September 11th.So instead of whining , why not try to think of something with a little more gratitude for what you have, instead of what you don't want...

Mark

I wonder if the 3000 people who died on September 11th will be missed by their non immediate family relatives this Christmas?

x

Mark-they should be.

Cindy

We flew to see our first granddaughter have her first Christmas - oh yea, it was worth EVERY minute of it!

Reality

Daniel, instead of going to the relatives and being bored and complaining about it, you should have gone to Ground Zero in NY and worked with the people that are serving food to the workers, YEs, they work every day and every night& holidays, instead of being with their families, so do the police and firemen, and then there are the volunteers who still help the people that come down there, grieving, wanting to see the place where their loved one was last alive, now still buried...that might give you a little perspective, give you some reason to be glad to see these people sitting around you,tomorrow everything could change *just like that!

tani

We travelled 2500 miles to be with relatives and are having a wonderful time. Those of you saying your relatives are boring might be surprised to find them saying the same about you! Try planning some fun activities or just try to be more active in getting to know them.

grandma

i really believe Christmas has gotten so big, it isn't worth it (unless there is a new baby).

after the first years, i decided not to visit my 3 daughters and families in michigan, illinois and texas at Christmas. i also encouraged them to spend their holiday in their own homes. it was too hard on everyone.

we all visit each other at other times of the year. warmer dallas in february, michigan beaches in the summer.

i had terrible in-laws and suffered the holidays for years. i will not put my terrific sons-in-law through this torture unless they plead a good case. life doesn't end if you are alone at Christmas!