Family holiday get-togethers: Yea or Nay?

[davew0071]

I know some people have prickly relationships with their families, and I hate to open any raw wounds, but I kinda dig the holidays with my family.

I live in the same town I grew up in, and my parents still live here, in the house wherein they raised their five kids. My younger brother also recently relocated from Indiana, and lives here in town, too. My oldest brother lives on Long Island, only a 90-minute drive away, and his kids and their spouses (I always thought the plural of "spouse" should be "spice") live close by, too.

My other brother is a bit further away, but could make the trip with not much problem. Our sister lives in Hawaii, so doesn't make it back East too often, but every couple of years, she comes back.

The great thing is, we all have wonderful relationships with each other. No animosity, no snarking, no jealousies or unresolved spats. Nothing. We just have fun together, and when we all start riffing, it's like a Marx Brothers movie, with jokes and puns and hilarity flying fast and furious. If you've not been exposed to the bunch of us together, you'll wish you had a Rewind button, to catch all the really funny throwaways that fill the conversation.

I'm looking forward to it.