Handling the Holidays with Family

With Halloween out of the way, here come all the family-focused holidays! From Thanksgiving to Christmas or Hanukkah to New Year’s Day, all these holidays typically involve family reunions of some sort. This is great, but can be problematic if you are single and not so ready to mingle with someone your family wants to set you up with.

Blind dates are already awkward, but imagine being set up at a family gathering. (Photo: Ramsey Moshen/Flickr)

You can except the slew of questions: Why are you still single? Why are you so picky? What happened to your last significant other? You know, the one from five years ago.

Then you run the chance of a family member actually bringing someone to a family gathering in hopes that a spark will fly. If this happens, keep an open mind but don’t feel obligated to entertain. Maybe there is a chance you hit it off. It is a small chance, but you never know. In the more likely chance that you find there is nothing there, don’t feel forced into a follow-up date. If your family member loves them so much, then they can go instead.

Now if you are taken, things may seem a little easier at first. But it comes with its own set of complications. For starters, whose family event do you go to? It seems fair to split them up and switch every year, but what if one side gets offended? I am afraid that is hard to avoid unless you are close enough to do both. If not, you can’t be in two places at once, and they will have to understand one way or another.

Meeting the parents isn’t easy. Meeting them during the holidays adds even more pressure. (Photo: iStock)

You can also expect all the “what is next?” questions. Been dating your partner for over a year, week, day? You best believe you will get at least one marriage or baby question. There is no telling why families like to move things along so fast, but they do. Maybe it is so they can gauge whether they need to invest in this new person or not. Either way, you are bound to have a few of these thrown at you, so you should probably avoid bringing just a fling to one of these family functions. It is hard to explain a “random” or friends with benefits to your grandparents.

This isn’t to discourage anyone from bringing significant others or dates to these upcoming holidays. This should just serve as a cautionary tale. Give your date a heads-up if you know your family will likely pounce on him or her the moment they walk in the door. That way your date can prepare accordingly.

So get you and your date ready for this wild ride that is the holiday hurtle. You will laugh, you will cry, you will have a great time. Just make sure whoever you introduce is worthy of meeting your family because remember, family is forever.