Holidays - Real or Fantasy #MFRWAuthor

We're at week 44 and the official topic is "Holidays - the headaches and joy of family get-togethers." First is the recipe for a happy get together.

• Arrivals timed to allow a few moments greetings
• Each person actually brings what they're supposed to
• Children, especially yours, not only behave, but act as perfect hostess for their cousins
• Everyone is amicably seated around a table in a large room
• The house if filled with laughter and joy

Reality just stuck a pin in the dream. The image of a perfect holiday just splintered into a million tiny pieces.

• It is ten minutes before guests are to arrive, and the house looks like a tornado hit it.
• Everyone who is supposed to help are doing other things. Usually tasks that don't need to be done at that moment.
• The turkey finished cooking an hour early.
• The guests are two hours late. Half of them still haven't arrived.
• YYY just called, he and XXX decided to stay at X's mother's home and won't be coming.
• The younger cousins are arguing from their seats on the picnic table squished into the kitchen for additional seating as to who has more space.
• Mmm brought up an imagined slight from five holidays back. Lll countered with a tale from their childhood of him and his brother using dynamite to clear tree stumps. Despite being adults, they both turned white at their mother's stern look.

There are joys in looking at holiday pictures and seeing the children grow. Then to see their own family's, and in the final picture four generations are captured in the portrait. This is also a sad part of a holiday as the years progress and there are empty places at the table.


Although it doesn't have the tale of the flask full of diet soda and whiskey carried to more than one Christmas that remained unopened or the escape technique to leave uncomfortable conversations by sending the family dog a signal that it was time for a walk, if you're looking for an uplifting offering that holds something for everyone in the family, A Yuletide Wish, fits the bill. Established authors from around the globe bring a rich tapestry of family-friendly stories and poems to enliven your holiday gatherings. My contribution was of how duty required a demotion from the adult table to the children's table, and how the holiday became one of the best the character ever had.

A little more on the holiday that gave rise to the story appeared in a post for another 52-week challenge. https://helenhenderson-author.blogspot.com/2018/07/sitting-at-adult-table-mfrwauthor.html.

~till next time, Helen