Navigating the Holidays as a Couple

If your families are anything like mine, your holidays are full of characters. That’s not to say every family is made up of a bunch of degenerates, but the more people that get together at one time, the higher the risk of discomfort. Every person is different and has their own quirks and idiosyncrasies, but in most social situations, you choose which people you want to be around. You don’t choose family! Even when you consider in-laws: while most people say you marry the whole family, I’ve never heard of anyone actually saying “I do” to Aunt Edna and Pop-Pop. They get thrown in as a bonus after the fact.What does this mean? It means you may soon find yourself in a situation where you are spending a significant amount of time in the company of people you find challenging at best, or repulsive at worst. I often experience couples in my office debating how to handle family members whether it’s family dynamics, specific individuals, or what limits and boundaries are appropriate. The problem is, everyone’s opinions differ on how they prefer to handle family. Here are a few tips and ideas I recommend:

• Remember, your relationship is the primary family unit. If you are placing the opinions of your parent/sibling/cousin/grandma over the opinions or feelings of your partner, you are doing it wrong. As I feel should be the case in life in general, your attitude should be “me and my partner vs. X” and not “me vs. my partner” or “me and my family vs. my partner.” You are on the same team!
• Your partner is not used to your brand of crazy. Every family is a little nutty. The difference is, you’ve had decades to get used to your family’s weirdness and might even think it’s normal (it’s not)! Be ready for your partner to not understand or be comfortable with everything and everyone at your family’s gatherings. Be sensitive to this instead of defensive toward them.
• Take breaks! If you’re with family for more than a day or two, be sure and carve out time for you and/or your partner to have some alone time. Family can be exhausting simply due to the numbers and the conversation (and awkwardness) at times, so a little time away can do a lot of good.
• If it’s your family, be sure to stick close to your partner until he/she says they are comfortable being left alone with your family. Putting your partner on an island with strangers who might ask uncomfortable questions may be a bit much at first.
• Recap your experience together each night. Consider it a status report of sorts. Go over the things you each found weird, what you thought was funny, and what was difficult for you. Try and process this without getting defensive, but instead validate your partner’s experience.
• Don’t forget the positives! It’s easy and oftentimes lazy to simply say “family is difficult.” Be sure and spend time sharing the good with each other. Even if there are only a handful, try and look for the good moments in the day. Instead of looking at the crazy aunt as overbearing, look at her as quirky and a good source of entertainment. After all, isn’t the primary reason we get into relationships so that we can now comment and laugh at other people with someone?!