I hate the holidays

There I said it. I hate the holidays. I don't get them - there's all these requirements and expectations placed on this time of year. It's the same reason I don't like celebrating special occasions on a specific day, too much pressure. If it's a spontaneous celebration, that's all good. But to put so much pressure for everything to go right on a specific day? No thank you.

For example. The husband's parents live in town. And his parent's family is joining us for Thanksgiving. Most have arrived today. I'm expected to go have dinner there tonight, hang out for a while and then hang out ALL day tomorrow. Really? I'm not that social of a person - I'm not much for sitting around doing nothing all day in someone else's house. It bores me. Plus the 4 week old sobriety that I'm working on doesn't allow me to have my normal alcohol induced buffer for dying of boredom.

So I've excused myself tonight, under the guise of going home to pick up and get ready for the two people that we are hosting. But really, I just want to be alone. This family is weird - there are all of these expectations of being together (traditional Latino family, I'm a white bread as they come), but at the same time, no one does anything together. We just sit around watching TV. Maybe I will make an effort and bring cards or something tomorrow. But honestly, if I'm going to sit around all day, I'd rather do so in the comfort of my own home. This just isn't my cup of tea. I have my own dysfunctional family - which is why I'm not with them during the holidays. I don't really need to spend time with someone else's.

Time to try venturing back into the land of safe social drinking? I think it might be too tempting to fall back into old habits.