In Laws and Holiday Dinners

I'm having a really slow evening and thought I'd start a chit-chat thread for pure entertainment.

We just made it through another holiday weekend, and I'm sure lots of you attended dinners with your families and in laws. Sometimes fun, sometime...not always as fun.

I like my in-laws (except during pregnancy and directly after...so...right now lol) but we all have our quirks. The one thing I really dread during inlaw family dinners is THE FOOD! It's just so, so, so boring. Think no salt/pepper/butter/gravy. Nothing fun.
Apparently my mother in law does this for her health, but was just diagnosed with high blood pressure. Irony. When her doctor told her to cut back on salt, she was at a loss.

So what do you dread coming up toward family centered holidays? What do you love? (I personally get a kick out of awkward moments in life like these.)

Am lucky no longer have to put up with annoying inlaws .

I hate when family comes for a visit & I find all kinds of things in my damn mayonnaise .....non of which are ingredients of mayonnaise , bread crumbs, mustard. I mean damn people wipe the knife off for Pete's sake.

a reply to: openyourmind1262

I never share my mayo with family members. 🤣

I personally hate when I go to someone's house to find they're Miracle Whip people.

I love being the "cool" Aunt. My step sister was mad at her 15 year old daughter for being late, so she left her home yesterday. My sister and I went and got her. Then we told her all kinds of fun stories on the way back to my moms.

Not real crazy about the whole "step family" again, at my age, it just feels akward.
It was easier to deal with, when I was younger. But I liked them more too. LOL

a reply to: Atsbhct

I enjoy the family dinners at any holiday time. I love to cook and love to see people enjoying the foods they love. I try to cook at one favorite dish---for everyone. The only "in-law" is my son-in-law and I don't think of him that way, he's the son I never had.

We just polished off our Easter dinner, a day late due to their working on weekends and having Monday as their day off. Baked ham, mashed potatoes, carrot salad, steamed broccoli, deviled eggs and carrot cake.

There aren't any big problems as long as I stick with my nuclear family but when the extended family gets included, it always turns crazy because we've got some monumental complainers. I buy real butter from cows. I buy real cream from cows for my coffee. I buy real sugar for my coffee and tea. I make my own bread from real, natural, organic ingredients. My cooking doesn't taste like fast food. Those who appreciate real, local food enjoy my cooking and I enjoy preparing food for appreciative people.

I'm a Southern woman, trained to go to the kitchen at the first sign of tragedy or crisis. There is no situation which won't be improved by an apple pie or a chocolate cake. I think that's in the Bible somewhere.

TIP: bring your own salt and pepper packets from restaurants, gas stations, etc. Use it when the conversation is otherwise going. Barring that, get a set of holiday salt and pepper shakers and claim it's tradition...bring 'em with ya.

ANOTHER: bring a dish you know you'll eat, so at least you have something good.

A bit of back and forth with the locale can help too. We have some good friends, but they couldn't cook worth a damn, before. But, after a while of us going back and forth, I think they got a bit more used to flavors, hehe.....