Yet another form of survival... Thanksgiving with the in-laws.

Fletcher Knives

Fletcher Knives

STEEL BREATHING BLADE MAESTRO
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Don't get me wrong, Sarah's mother and father love me and are really good people and I love them, but damn. Three days is just too long. We run out of funny stories after the first couple of hours.

My biggest problem is that they live in Lebanon Ohio. Now I don't know how many of you live in that area or have ever been there, but there is some seriously cool stuff in that area that I REALLY want to go check out more than once. They have a big fossil quarry, a really nice large COE controlled park with dam and a ton of Buckeye trees, good kayaking and canoeing, and I'M NOT ALLOWED TO GO DO ANY OF IT!!! I just have to sit there and watch her thirteen year old sister play XBox and try to keep from cursing. According to Sarah, we have to just hang out and enjoy each other's company. I get tired of MYSELF in a day, let alone other people. Anyways, I'm looking forward to the shrimp grits Sarah's mom makes from their days in Charleston, and I'm looking forward to more Navy stories, but other than that, I'm already ready to be back home.

What's funny is that I know I have a partner in crime. Her father likes the same stuff as me and wants to go do stuff too, but the women think we should all just sit around and have "holiday time". I know her father would escape with me if only we had the guts. We're both just sitting there in the living room, watching those women read vampire romance novels, both of us with scenes in our heads from The Great Escape, Papillon, and Cool Hand Luke.

I know this sounds horrible. I feel bad for even thinking it. I feel really lucky their her parents love me. I know there are a lot of crap marriages out there that are tainted with the hatred between in-laws and son/daughters. I really am thankful for how well mine turned out. ...but damn. Lemme go do stuff or make the trip shorter. I start farting if I sit in one spot that long.
 
see if you can get out with your father in law for a day trip, or get the ladies to come along and get them doing something fun too.

if it comes down to it you could just pretend to go shopping and come back 6 hours later...and hope that they don't notice since they were reading their novels....
 
siguy said:
see if you can get out with your father in law for a day trip, or get the ladies to come along and get them doing something fun too.

if it comes down to it you could just pretend to go shopping and come back 6 hours later...and hope that they don't notice since they were reading their novels....
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I'm in the works right now of trying to talk Sarah and her mother into letting her father and I go hiking by the fossil quarry. Sarah seems ok with it...then she says, "how long are you guys going to be gone... like an hour os so?" and of course like an honest idiot I say, "more like half a day." then she gets quiet. We'll see. Maybe I can talk them into it.
 
Sounds exactly like my extended family gatherings, and like visits with my former in-laws. I have never understood the desire to get together and sit. Especially when there are interesting alternatives all around.

What really makes me wonder is the incongruity between the desire to share interesting and exciting stories and the format that ensures that no such stories will ever come out of visits.

At a similar gathering a few years ago, I announced that I would be going for a nice hike to enjoy the outdoors, and invited interested parties to tag along. Some did, and we had a great time (especially the ones who spend the entire year in the city). When we returned, I broke out the cigars and port. Scandalous? You betcha. Enjoyable? Absolutely.

All the best,

- Mike
 
Dly - man up and take a walk :D

Just kidding, it's tough in those situations at times.
Hang in there man!!!!
 
Count your blessings...

My mother in laws doesnt like me much. A few years ago we had her up for a couple of days over the T-day holiday, and we invited a friend of mine over to join us for dinner. After dinner I walk our friend out to the car, and she said "As a mental health professional, it is my formal option that your mother in law is possessed"

She said when we first got married, that it wouldnt last six months. I think she may have finally given up on trying to get us apart, now 19 years later.
 
I know the feeling. Not Thanksgiving cause then I usually go out of the woods about 1 and go to my parents for a few hours and then go home.

But last year at Christmas I brought several pistols and tried to convince some of my wife's relatives to go outside for some target shooting and no takers:thumbdn::rolleyes:
 
Booze... lots of booze is the answer. Make a complete ass out of yourself and maybe your wife will allow you to leave next year.
 
Hey man, all I can do is sympathize. I really like my in-laws, they are great people, and they like me. But damn, after a day with them and the sister-in-law and her 2 kids in that small house, I'm ready to be home.

Cool thing is, my wife understands and lets me get away, heck, she'll go on a hike with me sometimes... And now that we are only 1.5 hours from them, sometimes she even lets me come home early and be a bachelor again!! :D
 
There is no surviving this catastrophe, it falls right between zombie attack and nuclear war. Booze can help, but it only numbs the pain. :thumbdn: :thumbdn:

I suggest doing what I'm going to do and faking a stomach virus.
 
Ha! Dude I feel your pain. My wifes family is the same way. Only differance is we have nothing to talk about. They just want to hear my "war stories" from work, and man.....I hate talking about work when im off. Oh, that and im a doctor to them. If I have to look at one more Rash or something this year, Im gonna flip.:barf:
 
Dude I hate it when my wife's family and my Jerry Springer Show family gets together. My wifes family is originally from Mexico and very conservative no drinking smoking and my moms side is the total opposite. Talk about cutting the tension with a knife. We have been married 8 yrs with no problems yet, but it does suck cause I just don't feel at ease until its over.:(
 
Hmm. Not to mention any names, but it sounds like sitting around and being together is her idea of a good holiday. :) Just kidding.

Try this one: "Sometimes being together and enjoying each other's company means we do all that by ourselves."
 
j williams said:
Ha! Dude I feel your pain. My wifes family is the same way. Only differance is we have nothing to talk about. They just want to hear my "war stories" from work, and man.....I hate talking about work when im off. Oh, that and im a doctor to them. If I have to look at one more Rash or something this year, Im gonna flip.:barf:
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Oh hell yes, I hear that Jake. If I have to discuss the complete drug regimen of every family member again I'm going to start charging.

Is this more of a whine and cheese thing, or more of a good/bad/ugly? :D
 
Just tell the ladies you and your dad in law are going vampire slaying - and you can interpret that at any level you want - if you don't do the things you want to do when you're on hols it will eat away inside you and make you resentful - from your post it looks like you're getting that way already.
 
Definitely survival oriented. This thread should have one of those How to... labels. My mother in law loves me. I could do without her. My wife knows it. Her mother knows it. This will be the first year in 8 that I won't have to endure my wife's family. They are fine individually, but are a "days of our lives" trainwreck together. So, how to survive the holidays with the inlaws... Move to another state, then refuse to fly "home" due to outrageous airfare.

Don't tell my wife, but if we could have gone home and not seen her family I would have ponied up the airfare. Don't tell her mom, but I think that my wife would have as well. :)

Turn on the game to an obnoxious volume and pay rapt attention (you're going to need the assistance of your father in law to make this work)- ignoring all others in the room- until the women force you and your father in law out. You may have to fein attention, but it will eventually work. In my experience, there is nothing like the invasion of "holiday together time" by a sporting event to cause consternation in those enforcing the together time rules.
 
I am fortunate that my girls mom and dad love me. the unfortunate thing is that when we go up to oregon we get to visit everyone and their cousin! we then spend the night everywhere one night! sooo we don't get to do sh..! this christmas I am going to bring my fly rod to astoria or I am not going...lol (it sounds good) I said hey look I only need one day out of the two weeks to go fishing.
one method I have found also is be as anoying as possible or be all up on her the whole time, like connected at the hip, follow her around the house. then she will tell you to go and find something to do........ha ha:D
 
siguy said:
see if you can get out with your father in law for a day trip, or get the ladies to come along and get them doing something fun too.

if it comes down to it you could just pretend to go shopping and come back 6 hours later...and hope that they don't notice since they were reading their novels....
Click to expand...

LISTEN TO SIGUY--AND DO THAT:thumbup:
 
Man, all I can say is I would just leave. Let the women sit around and talk...that's women's work. You guys are doing it all wrong if you are asking to leave, they will never agree. Make plans and leave. That's what I'd do...8 years into a happy relationship and I am sure part of the happiness relates to the fact that I don't take any guff about anything, ever.
 
j williams said:
Ha! Dude I feel your pain. My wifes family is the same way. Only differance is we have nothing to talk about. They just want to hear my "war stories" from work, and man.....I hate talking about work when im off.
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I HEAR YA BROTHER; only it is law enforcement with me. They always relay a story of their most recent contact with another officer and try to get me to play judge and jury or they want the war stories. Uhhhgggg. I just keep my snot locker buried in a plate of sweet potato pie so I can't speak. I usually sneak away with the kids for a walk to "burn of what I ate" in the afternoon. The kids are usually ready to get out of the house too as apparently it just isn't Thanksgiving or Christmas unless the house is full of people and 95 degrees. Ya gotta love'em though. :D
 
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