Fear the Crab

I meant to write this on Christmas Day, but I had battled a cold that kept me out of sorts for most of the week leading up to the holiday. That’s the one thing being sick does to you; it makes you miss out on all the festivities. I had to forgo attendance at many Christmas dinner parties and content myself with cold leftovers and hot tea.

This was probably the first holiday that I didn’t get to spend with the family. I’m sure there will be more dinners in the future, more parties and presents and big gatherings. I may not say it much, but I do enjoy those moments of seeing cousins and grandmas and aunts and uncles. I think Christmas is probably the one time everyone on both sides of my family get together under one roof, which means that I could go a whole year without seeing some of my relatives.

Of course, once-a-year communications are hardly a rare thing for me. Even my brother doesn’t get to talk to me as often. For New Year’s Day brunch, I’ll be with some relatives on my father’s side, and one of my cousins has been dating her “new” boyfriend for over a year; this will be only the second time I’ve met him.

I suppose there are many things I could do to foster contact with relatives. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to talk about, from my end. I don’t have any kids or anything that would make for prolonged conversation, so it’s hard to get past the how-are-yous and move on to something substantial. In this way, Maile is an excellent conversationalist, able to get people to open up and start talking, and keep talking once they’ve started. I’m sure there are a few tips and tricks I could learn to strengthen familial ties, and I’m sure that I’ll realistically only get to them once some of those ties are gone forever. I don’t even know if any of my other relatives are that interested in frequent contact.

I suppose, realistically, these family holiday dinners are pretty much the only things that brings us together. Considering the alternatives, I’ll take that. Hopefully, my house will one day be a part of the rotation.

Tim Minchin sums up my feelings pretty handily on this matter: