If you come from a big family, you know that the holidays are no joke. All of the relatives come in, you create more holidays than actually exist, and it's an all around crazy time of the year. But, all of your crazy relatives also make it the best time of year. So, in order to celebrate and prepare for this holiday season, I've compiled a list of things that happen at Christmastime when your family is of above average size.
1. If you're hosting, your mom goes a tad bonkers getting ready for everyone to invade... *ahem*, I mean arrive.
She is in a frenzy of cleaning, decorating, baking, and a million other things, which means if you're not doing anything to help you're doing something wrong. Get up and help the woman, it's the least you can do.
2. You channel your inner home designer when it comes to decorations and, let's be honest, your skills are out of this world by this point.
The house has got to be decked out in all things Christmas/winter. The tree is filled with ornaments, garland is strung anywhere there's a place for it, snowmen and Santa statues are placed on every table and in every nook and cranny, and colorful lights illuminate the house from 3 blocks away. Your house basically gets turned into the North Pole for the month of December and it's wonderful.
3. Christmas shopping takes the entire season, usually up until Christmas Day.
There are just so many people that you have to get gifts for! You have to shop for all of the aunts and uncles, all 800 cousins (and second and third cousins), grandparents, godparents, siblings, oh and don't forget about those relatives who aren't actually related to you but they're part of the family.... It's a lot of people!
4. When you hear who all is attending you sometimes have to be reminded who someone is and how they're related to you.
Okay, this one is kind of bad, but there are a ton of people to keep track of and sometimes you just forget! It's not like you see every relative on a frequent basis... Alright, stop judging, you know you've done it.
5. You prepare yourself for the onslaught of questions you'll receive about your personal life.
Chances are, you haven't seen half of your family in a few months, so they'll want an update on everything that's happened since they last saw you. You have to ready yourself with your answers about your relationship (or lack of), your grades, plans for the future, and other similar questions. And be ready to answer them more than once because there are simply too many people who need to hear it. But give your relatives a little break - they're only asking because they love you and they want to know about your life because they care.
6. You probably see your family more in this month and a half than you do the rest of the year.
First you have Thanksgiving. Then between that and Christmas there's probably some sort of cookie baking, Christmas tree decorating, holiday whatnot tradition that gathers your family together. Then you have Christmas Eve and Day and probably New Year's Eve, too. Plus, if you've got relatives from out of town, you bet they're going to be staying in your house, so that means you see them even more. This can be a bit draining, but once it's over you know you'll be begging for time to speed up so you can do it all over again.
7. There is always a smile on your face and probably one on your heart, too.
That was cheesy, I know, but I'm a sucker for cheesy. It's true though! When you're surrounded by a ridiculously large family for a whole season, there's no way you can't be happy. Whether it's a goofy uncle or an adorable cousin, something is bringing a smile to your face. If love were water, your family would flood your house during the holidays, and I'm not just saying some wet carpet on the ground floor, I'm talking the whole house underwater.
While some of these things sound a little crazy, there's nothing you would trade in the whole world for your insane family. You're big and loud and totally unique and there's nothing anyone can do to change that. If the holidays are about family, that's one thing you've got totally covered.
