The Question I've Been Dreading

[Guest guest]

" Would you like to be here for Christmas? " (where " here " =the FOO's house)

Oh, boy. Here we go. I've had this hanging over my head pretty much since I

moved away from FOO House. And now it's finally fallen on me. How do you answer

a question like that?

The true answer: HELL no!

The right answer, being the one I'm expected to give and will catch some serious

grief for NOT giving: " Of course, Mother Dear. Please, let's continue to honour

this annual ritual of pretending this family is not horribly dysfunctional.

Perhaps we can thereafter honour the tradition of a huge family fight on

December 27th, because three days is our limit for acting like normal people.

What fun! I'll bake a pie. "

. . . actually, if I accepted the invitation in those exact words, I will

probably catch some serious grief anyway. I suspect the sarcasm might come

through a little.

So . . . I know the true answer is the one I need to give, because I'm barely

getting through as it is and I'm in no way ready to go back into the dragon's

den. I'm still having enough flashbacks to feel like I barely left! But I'm not

convinced I'm ready to make everybody mad at me AGAIN and incur the wrath of

Mommie Dearest. I tend to feel really, really obligated to my FOO, and I was

brought up with the message that the way to deal with my mom when she " gets this

way " is to NEVER MAKE WAVES.

Skipping Christmas for the first time ever = making waves.

Anybody got any words of encouragement to help me do what's right for me? Or

should I just keep the peace for one more year? Okay, even typing that, I know

that's not going to work. So I guess what I'm looking for is encouragement to

make those waves like I'm supposed to never, ever do.

Psyclone.