You Only Have 1 Family

With the holidays among us, you hear people talk more and more about family.  And I’ve noticed that more and more people tend to talk about  “The dreaded in-laws coming”, or having to go and spend time with the family.  I can’t lie, I used to be one of those people.  On the holidays I wanted to stay home and spend time with “my” family. (My husband and my kids)  Family get togethers just seemed to be a hassle, no one got along, the kids would fight and at the end of the day you were glad to go home or for everyone to leave.  But over the years, especially since my family has all moved out of state I began to realize just how important and special it is to spend not just time but quality time with your family. 

I had a chat with my kids the other day because I was tired of all the fighting, I told them their siblings are the only siblings they have and they need to learn to get along.  They don’t want to grow up despising each other because one day they may need one another and they want to have a good relationship with eachother.  I went on about the importance of having good relationships with the family.  Then a couple of days later it was Thanksgiving and it was time to go to “the in-laws”.  Were we looking forward to it, maybe, but when we got there we had such a great time, everyone got along and it was fun.  Now we are all looking forward to Christmas Eve at Mom and Dads and Christmas day at our house. 

Looking at how family get togethers used to be and how they are now, I think everyone has grown up and come to learn the importance of family time. We talk about the stupid stuff in the past and laugh.  Talk through cares and concerns, talk about the ones we loved and lost  And just enjoy each others company.

Lesson here:  You only have one family, love them, cherish them, and spend as much time with them as you can, let them know you love them.  It’s the only family you have.