LT Features

One Big Happy Family It’s that time of year again – time to dust off your pilgrim costume and hunker down for a full day of festivities!  I love Thanksgiving, but then again, what’s not to like about a holiday focused on food?  Oh, that’s right… you don’t get to just sit down at a buffet for one and indulge – you have earn it.  You have to engage in causal banter with 3rd cousins, you have to raise your voice a few octaves and say “how are you????” to people whose lives you don’t really care about and you have to answer that age old question: “so, seeing anyone special?”  Ugh.  Holidays are stressful; the crowds at the airport, the rental cars that smell like beef jerky, the itchy dressy clothes that - might I add - do not have the proper percentage of lycra for a big meal, the endless waiting for the meal to actually be served (if you knew the turkey wouldn’t be ready until 6pm then why did you invite us over at 2pm?  To watch football and socialize?  No thank you)…  Am I alone here or does Thanksgiving actually kind of blow?  Most movies depict the holidays as one big love-fest where everyone is in cashmere and plaid and is thrilled to see one another. However, not all flicks fail to accurately portray the holidays.  In fact, some cinematic families are so awful that they make me feel like I’m a Walton.  Or better yet, a Jolie-Pitt.  Movies about families and the complexity of those relationships are some of my favorites because they often leave me making a note on my mental scoreboard.  For example, my real family is way better than Precious’ family.  Score one for me.  My parents are weird but not as weird as they could be, my mom is a pistol but I wouldn’t ever trade her in, and my great friendship with my sister makes Hannah and her two sisters seem like loony-toons.  Three more points for team L.T.  But there are two major exceptions – if Francis wants to adopt me or if there is room for one more in the Brady household, I am packing my bags.  Heck, I would even move in with Madea. What’s your take on the holidays?  Leave a comment below telling me if you’re more of a gravy boat is half-full or half-empty kind of person when it comes to family time. L.T.

One Big Happy Family

It’s that time of year again – time to dust off your pilgrim costume and hunker down for a full day of festivities!  I love Thanksgiving, but then again, what’s not to like about a holiday focused on food? 

Oh, that’s right… you don’t get to just sit down at a buffet for one and indulge – you have earn it.  You have to engage in causal banter with 3rd cousins, you have to raise your voice a few octaves and say “how are you????” to people whose lives you don’t really care about and you have to answer that age old question: “so, seeing anyone special?”  Ugh. 

Holidays are stressful; the crowds at the airport, the rental cars that smell like beef jerky, the itchy dressy clothes that - might I add - do not have the proper percentage of lycra for a big meal, the endless waiting for the meal to actually be served (if you knew the turkey wouldn’t be ready until 6pm then why did you invite us over at 2pm?  To watch football and socialize?  No thank you)…  Am I alone here or does Thanksgiving actually kind of blow?  Most movies depict the holidays as one big love-fest where everyone is in cashmere and plaid and is thrilled to see one another.

However, not all flicks fail to accurately portray the holidays.  In fact, some cinematic families are so awful that they make me feel like I’m a Walton.  Or better yet, a Jolie-Pitt.  Movies about families and the complexity of those relationships are some of my favorites because they often leave me making a note on my mental scoreboard.  For example, my real family is way better than Precious’ family.  Score one for me.  My parents are weird but not as weird as they could be, my mom is a pistol but I wouldn’t ever trade her in, and my great friendship with my sister makes Hannah and her two sisters seem like loony-toons.  Three more points for team L.T.  But there are two major exceptions – if Francis wants to adopt me or if there is room for one more in the Brady household, I am packing my bags.  Heck, I would even move in with Madea.

What’s your take on the holidays?  Leave a comment below telling me if you’re more of a gravy boat is half-full or half-empty kind of person when it comes to family time.

L.T.