7.26 Support - Two Types of Families

Bestest Friend and I are in the middle of a blog project. Each day of the month we will  post a picture on a pre-determined theme and write a little something about it. The theme for the twenty-sixth day of each month is "Support."
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I have decided that there are two types of families - the kind where each person sits quietly and watches other people open holiday presents, each person oohing and aahing over every single pair of socks and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figurine and the kind where it is an absolute free-for-all when presents come out and each kid gleefully rips open presents simultaneously and it's impossible to even watch people open the gifts you bought because they are all the way across the room and there are a dozen other people between you and them. I come from the first type of family and married into the second.

So, as you can imagine, the opening of the presents is very stressful for me.

I sat next to a cousin whose own immediate family is much like my own and we just hung out in the corner, out of the way of the mayhem, and let it all sweep over us. The three- (almost four) year old grabbed his present and, clearly having been coached by his parents, yelled "thank you, whoever" as he ripped into his present.  The nine month old wailed as soon as the spaceship that shoots things started wailing its sirens. The oldest girl kept getting her two youngest cousins confused, handing the presents to the wrong baby girls, leading to much confusion and switching of presents. 

And I didn't even care about the mess and the chaos and the noise - I just sat back and let it all wash over me. The glass of wine and having an ally sit next to me certainly helped.

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To see what Bestest Friend wrote about the theme of the day, check out her blog, Too Legit to Quit.