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Holiday Spirits

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by DrFrylock, Nov 24, 2010.

  1. DrFrylock

    DrFrylock
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    I have noticed a trend in holiday traditions across various families. It seems that either you're from a family that stays pretty much sober over holiday gatherings, or you're from a family that gets totally knackered from grandma all the way down to the six year olds nipping the Champagne. I guess half-wasted/half-sober doesn't really work that well.

    My family was one of the sober families. Well, except for Grandma, but she was drunk all day, every day, and so it wasn't like a change in personality with her. I've never really regretted having sober family gatherings. We're depressing enough when not inebriated.

    FOCUS: Are your family gatherings sober, drunken, or a little of both? Would you like it to be different? What shenanigans have arisen due to your family posture on the issue?
     
  2. lostalldoubt86

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    My family starts Thanksgiving with Bloody Marys at noon. Then we have pre-dinner cocktail hour, drinks with dinner, irish coffee with dessert, and finally the nightcap.

    Christmas Eve we make jello shots.

    Christmas Day is the same as Thanksgiving.
     
  3. Backroom

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    My dad's side of the family breaks out the whiskey sours as soon as they wake up and start cooking, which makes the regular political debate turn into a shit show, with no one agreeing or seeing straight by the end of the night, something I can totally get behind.

    My mom's side all gives me dirty looks and makes comments when I have a 2nd glass of wine with dinner (and no there are no alcoholics or anything, just catholic guilt).

    I'll let you decide which one I would rather go to.
     
  4. Frank

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    I've said it before but I was young when everyone use to get blasted, now they all slowed down a lot, but still have a couple drinks. I am usually the drunkest one at family gatherings, mainly because although I like my family I have way too little in common with them to be able to talk to them sober without wanting to put a bullet in my head.
     
  5. PIMPTRESS

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    I have gotten wasted in years prior, because the ex's family were a bunch of drunken assholes and I was less concerned with the contagiousness of stupidity when drunk. It kept me from doing the world a favor with a paring knife.

    This year, it'll be my man, my boys and I. We will likely have a couple drinks, but I don't see us getting wasted. I will be high as fuck though, because my cooking is truly inspired when I get in the kitchen baked.

    p.s. I am almost sorry that I won't be wasted for the next six weeks. Last years Holiday drunk thread was a hilarious phenomenon, a commitment that I don't see myself making this year...
     
  6. Misanthropic

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    Ours is a low-key type of drinking, generally spread out over the evening, leaving most of us jovial and relaxed. Except for the husband of one relative, who is usually drunk when he shows up, and by halfway through the evening is slurring, drooling and nodding off. This guy even travels with his own case of beer, as a hedge against the well running dry.
     
  7. Frebis

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    My family are a bunch of squares. I really don't have anything in common with them, other than the fact I happened to slide out of my Mom's nether region. They don't drink, as a result, holiday gatherings suck. We just basically sit there and make small talk. If the food wasn't so good, I probably wouldn't come home for the holidays.

    To make up for this I go to the bar with all of my friends from past lives on Thursday night. Everyone tells stories from the past, and procedes to get black out drunk. It is giving me the warm fuzzies just thinking about it.
     
  8. ghettoastronaut

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    Both my mom and dad's side of the family usually have rather sober affairs. My dad's side are a bunch of Italian Catholics who are also largely tradesmen of sorts, so that side has a lot more drinking going on, although it's drinking of the sort that tries to hide any inebriation. My grandfather used to, when I was a kid, get loaded at family dinners, nap it off, then get back up and keep on going, although I was too young to notice this was going on. On the whole, they also have better booze: no boxed wine, no buck-a-beers. Instead, they'll usually have a bunch of homemade wine, plus multiple bottles of various store bought or business gifts my uncles receive. My (rich) uncle broke out a $200 bottle of brandy last Christmas Eve. Yeah.

    We've had a few shooting stars, though. My sister, at 15 or 16, got absolutely plastered and vomited at my mom's side's Christmas dinner. She had an "empty stomach", and was sneaking a few too many coolers and glasses of wine. I was the one responsible for dragging her to the bathroom and keeping my cousin's bedroom carpet in respectable shape. I never tire of bringing up this story.

    The next year, a cousin on my dad's side got really drunk on Christmas Eve and vomited. In a church bathroom. Outstanding.
     
  9. kuhjäger

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    Unfortunately my brother in law suffered liver failure, and can never drink again.

    So what used to be everyone taking shots of Aquavit at the table and pounding martinis has turned into more or less no booze at all.

    So that means I will be sneaking out to the RV to sneak shots.
     
  10. TX.

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    Mom's side: Boring. No alcohol, ever. Drinks consist of water, tea (unsweet), Coke, and ginger ale. Good, awkward fun. From now on I'm going to start spiking my drinks in the spare bedroom. This family may be depressing and awkward as hell, but it would be a little more tolerable buzzed.

    Dad's side: Everyone is drinking the entire time. Someone will hand you a glass of wine, beer, or mixed drink within 10 minutes of your arrival. Then, one of my many uncles or aunts will take care of you, keeping your glass filled/another bottle at hand. It's not that we get drunk; we just get buzzed and "merry". With the exception of a narrow-minded hippy uncle, everyone gets along and it's always a good time. Nobody can host/make you feel as welcome or at home as well as my family. If I ever bring a guy to a family function it's going to be with my dad's side. They will never meet my mom's family. Ever. My mom gives my dad shit, calling all the Last Names alcoholics. Yet, she drinks while there and the only alcoholic/drug addict in our entire family is her brother. Shocking.
     
  11. audreymonroe

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    One of the best things I have enjoyed since turning 21 is that I've started drinking with my family and it is awesome. I love having a rum and coke at the end of the day or before a party with my dad or getting silly and dancing with my best-friend's-family-that's-basically-my-own. It's really fun. This will be my first holiday season like this but, judging from the other occasions throughout the year, it's going to be a shitshow. Slash awesome.
     
  12. Chellie

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    Christmas Eve is always just a couple of drinks.. until the ex arrives to pick the kids up later in the evening. After that, it's a montage of me crying that I don't have my own 'family' for Christmas, shots, champagne, motherly pep talks, drunk texts/phone calls from the bathroom floor, and vomit. We're really into the spirit of the holiday.
     
  13. Viking33

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    Mom's side? Eh. Everyone's classy and will have a few merry beers during and after dinner but nothing outrageous. My uncle will usually get a little red in the face and his jokes get... cornier. For lack of a better word. Still a good time though. Generally the talk is "follow the conversation until you can slip a little innuendo that the kids won't understand" followed by "one up with an innuendo that the kids may or may not understand" followed quickly by "slap an innuendo that everyone understands, including the dog." Get smacked by mom or grandma then wash, rinse, repeat.

    Dad's side is AWESOME. I didn't realize until last year or maybe the year before that just how slushy everyone got during and after dinner. It's a big gathering every year (15-20 people) and this will be my first year legally drinking with the family. Last year mom approved wine but no beer and cut me off after sneaking a Miller Light. This year I'm getting shmishmammered with the rest of them. Talk at the table is awesome. Keep the cursing to a minimum but everything else is fair game. Talk about how grandpa abused everyone as children with the belt, to politics, then inevitably real and fantasy football (Half the family are Bears fans, the other half are Browns fans. Also 'Bama and Illinois for college. Things get interesting.) We all watch football in the afternoon and one of my younger uncles and I beat the shit out of the little cousins. It continues until someone bleeds substantially or cries. Dad's side FTW!
     
  14. lust4life

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    Both my side of the family and my wife's side are about the same: the men would drink, mainly beers, at a very leisurely pace, and at most, the women may have a glass of wine with the holiday meal. I, of course, was the exception to the rule. I was a little better behaved when we would spend a holiday at a relative's, but, like someone else posted about an in-law, I always brought 2 cases of beer, two bottles of wine, and a bottle of whatever I happened to be binging on at time. At home, it was a little different:

    On Thanksgiving, my drinking commenced by 8:00 am, starting with bloody marys as my drinking buddies arrived for the turkey fry, which usually consisted of 6-8 pots spread out across my driveway and people dropping by all morning to get their turkeys fried (and in some cases, their brain cells as well). We then moved on to beer and Jager while watching football, wine with the meal, followed by either Crown or bourbon as we played Trivial Pursuit after dinner until I would usually pass out. Friday-Sunday were spent in the bar, drinking prodigiously and gambling heavily on college football. Both families just seemed to get used to it.

    Christmas was a little more low key. I'd skip the bloody marys and have bourbon and egg nog in the morning instead.
     
  15. Crown Royal

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    I'm a family man now, so I go light on drinking. However, I still get a real nice glow Christmas night at the in-laws (who I get along with) and absolutely trashed with my wife in Oshawa for New Years Eve. Every New Years its a tradition we go see my maniacal friend (a member of the old Canadian progressive hair metal band Harem Scarem) and being sober and/or not stoned around this lunatic is NOT an option. He's the closest thing I can get to being friends with Gary Busey.
     
  16. benny lava

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    Dad's side used to drink when I was much younger....
    Pretty small family to begin with, but ever since they shrunk because of deaths they combined with my Mom's huge ass side for celebrations.

    No drinking.

    My parents are hosting Christmas for the first time this year and his quote:
    "We're breaking out the booze, so you'll want to be around."

    It's a miracle my two families get along.

    Hardcore conservative Baptists and Mormons on the mom's side vs. Liberal Presbyterians on my Dad's side.
    There has been some terse discussion in the past, but nothing major. This is the push that the event needs.

    It's going to be a shitfest of epic proportions and I can't explain in words how much I look forward to it.
     
  17. KillaKam

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    Holiday gatherings in my family ALWAYS have a good amount of booze involved. My mom's side has some tame relatives, but there are a decent amount of uncle's and cousins who attack the beer and liqour as soon as arriving. My one particular uncle who has serious heart concerns is somewhat trying to drink himself to death from what I hear. His menu usually consists of scotch/whisky and a pack of cigarettes throughout holiday parties.

    A few of my uncles have been known to polish off a bottle of scotch/whisky/bourbon or something of the sort in one evening. Same goes for my cousin who is my age...he started drinking straight up hard stuff when we were teens in front of everyone, with total disregard for what his parents thought or the rest of the family. I do drink while celebrating with the family but I've never really gotten out of hand. There's usually no point in me getting too trashed, because my family is just too boring to fully enjoy me cutting loose.
     
  18. abneretta

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    Mom's mom's side: Last year I busted out a bottle of wine after dinner on Thanksgiving. My grandma gave me the look of death and acted like my aunt, cousin, and I were alcoholics because we shared the bottle. Pretty much everyone in the family drinks but not at gatherings, it's a sad deal.

    Mom's dad's side: We don't usually get together for Thanksgiving anymore now that my great grandpa died, but Christmas is a blast. We play grab bag and there's usually a minimum of two bottles of booze, a six pack of beer, and a wine basket involved. My second cousins are usually drinking by the time we get there, which is when I start. After we eat and open gifts there's usually some board or card game to be played, fortified with some good old alcohol. I look forward to that Christmas celebration all year.

    We don't celebrate Christmas with my dad's side. No hard feelings it's just a pretty small family. Grandma and grandpa give us each a big box of chocolates every year and usually something Avon since my grandma sells it.
     
  19. JGold

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    I don't have a relationship with my dad or his side of the family, but my mom's side got together every Christmas and most Thanksgivings when my maternal grandparents were still alive. No one got obscenely drunk except for one creepy uncle who snuck, of all things, Miller Lites, but it still seemed like everyone got a solid buzz and had a merry old time. I was never allowed because I was under 21 -- though I suspect the real reason was my two younger cousins looked up to me like a god, and my uncle is a super-conservative school superintendent. I was a role model and all. The year I finally turned of age, both grandparents died, and for whatever reason my mom and her siblings decided to end the annual Louisiana get-togethers. I was pissed. I was really looking forward to drinking with my family, since you assholes make it sound so fucking fun.

    The past few years has been just me, my mom and my stepdad. I'll have a few rum and cokes and/or some wine, but I don't see the point of getting rip-roaring drunk in that setting.

    Things are looking up, though. I couldn't afford a flight home for Thanksgiving this year, so I'm going to feast with my married friends and their families. I know a lot of them from the wedding and bachelor party. It's going to be a shitshow. My first drunken family Thanksgiving! And then for Christmas, my mom and conservative uncle rented a cabin in New Hampshire. I'll see my cousins, who are now high school- and college-aged, for the first time in years. I can't wait to be the awesome older cousin who sneaks them booze when my uncle isn't looking. Vive la Resistance!