Relatives

Relatives seem to appear over the holidays and quite often they are not well-received. They are certainly not perfect but I feel it is important to spend time with them. Most of them, especially your aunts and uncles, have know you for your WHOLE life. They know the stories of when you were born, when you were little, growing up, all of your milestones, etc. They have different stories and different memories of you than your parents and siblings. How special is that? 

No matter what their shortcomings may be or how you feel they have treated you (or mistreated you) in the past, it means a lot to show up when they're in town. When I think of the Hartmans, I know that it would mean a lot to Grandma and Grandpa that we still see each other and catch up. At the gathering at Aunt Phyllis' recently, it was fun to share stories and memories of Grandma. We just don't take the time out of our daily lives to do that on our own. They deserve to be remembered for the huge impact they had on all of us. (I just teared up writing this).

Relatives may seem nosy, but most of them just want to know what's going on in your lives and making sure you're doing okay. And how good does that make your parents look when you show up as well? Also there is often quite a delicious spread of family food favorites. We all need to set our selfishness aside and take a few hours out of our day to do this. It only happens once a year and all too soon that will be gone. Families are a gift from God.