I remember being so frustrated as a kid and into my teenage years as my extended family tried to optimize Christmas further and further every year to ease the burden on the family member hosting. And, to be fair, with a large extended family hosting a holiday was no small thing, and being young and completely blind to the exhaustive burden that life as an adult brings, I didn't appreciate that an additional monumental task of planning, cooking, cleaning and hosting that having the family around…

Having relatives stay with you is difficult for everyone; the person visiting is displaced, and the person hosting has their life and normal routines disrupted with someone else always suddenly present. And in a small home or an apartment you really begin to feel the effects of this. This is further complicated by the needs of any babies, children, or pets who live at home with you, adding another often less predictable element to the mix. The trade-off is that you get to spend a whole length o…

When this mother's 28-year-old daughter, Jessica, moved back in with them after a breakup, she asked her mother to partake in a “rewatch” of the popular 00's TV show “Gilmore Girls” with her. The mother didn't know much about the show outside of the fact that she was not a fan regarding the titular characters as being “very entitled” and remarking that the show relies on the viewer finding their “yelling matches” to be “endearing.” Keep reading to see her account of events as she shared with th…