We Are Family

Because I am a black-belt shopper, I am almost done my Christmas shopping, but that isn't stopping me from going to a Girls' Weekend shopping trip to the outlets in Rehoboth this weekend. My sister and her sister-in-law live in/near Delaware, and this will be a nice opportunity to shop, eat out, drink and be away from testosterone levels (and in their case, children) for a day or two. Plus I will get to drive my shiny new car on a big highway!

At some point during the trip, I'll have to break it to my sister that we can't attend the big family Christmas do on the 26th, because my husband's family is having one on the same day, and we missed theirs last year, plus we did Thanksgiving at my folks' house this year. My notoriously anti-social brother is already not attending (the day after Christmas is apparently not a work holiday for him, but this is no surprise as he only gets one week of vacation per year). I feel bad, but I'm hoping that some of the family will come by on Christmas Day, which we've decided we're going to spend in our own damn house. I feel like I have to lay the ground rules now, because otherwise all the family members will bitch and moan - my mother in particular keeps a mental score card of such things and is quick to point out unfair practices. How does one handle these things? I was single for so long that being with my parents over Christmas became de rigueur, and now I worry that they're going to find themselves all alone for Christmas. But that's probably a silly fear - one of us will have them over, and everything will be fine. Right?