Family Familiarities

Ah, the holiday season has arrived. The season of getting together with relatives and celebrating. However, I find it a bit strange, that the only time we see certain family members is when the calendar says it's time to have that traditional Thanksgiving feast. The rest of the year it's busy lives, busy schedules, and not much attempt at catching up with those with common blood. I always enjoy getting together with family, don't get me wrong, it's just curious why we only get together on "special occasions". The usual weddings (if everyone makes it), funerals (if it's someone that you were close to), or Thanksgiving.

I guess that Thanksgiving is the easiest holiday to share with family. You don't have to worry about foiling the traditions you might have with your immediate family, like you would have on Christmas (which also means fewer gifts to give). Nor would you need to worry about religious views, on those controversial holidays like Easter or the non-materialistic Christmas. Some holiday's just don't merit a celebratory gathering, like Groundhog Day, Flag Day, or Arbor Day.... Thanksgiving is a traditional family gathering holiday, I'm assuming for the consumption of copious amount of food.

It's always a bit awkward to get together with people whom you haven't seen in ages, or haven't really communicated with in the past year. It's difficult to catch up with the life details from an entire year, so people tend to generalize. It's easier to tell what you're doing in the present, and if you're not doing anything of notable interest, it's always a pain-staking questioning process to hash out the fact that you're truly not doing anything out of the ordinary.

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your relatives. It's mystifying how families are connected and feel the need to get together under certain circumstances, and yet how awkward one can feel when they eventually get together. The strange inner-workings of family relationships are sometimes a mystery to me.