Because that would lead to being up to no good, after all. My inbox has filled up today with advice on how to handle potentially volatile family dinner conversations tomorrow, and I’m not sure about your fam, but mine has always tended toward the loud and dramatic, so we already had a “no discussing” rule.
We’ve also always had the saying “family event isn’t over until somebody cries and Calley falls asleep on the couch.”
Love you, Aunt Calley 🙂
Anyhow, it’s a bit futile to believe somebody won’t bring up the state of America since it’s apparently all anybody ever wants to talk about, but if you’re looking for some other topics of discussion, here’s what the preteen girls and I came up with on our drive over the mountain today.
Feel free to discuss…
The best book you read this year. My girls’ votes were in for Percy Jackson. My top is All the Light We Cannot See. It’s followed closely by Gods in Alabama, but that might lead to a football discussion and we ban those at our house. Maybe I’ll change my answer to Jackson’s latest, The Opposite of Everyone. (Which is pretty much how some of us feel.)
The trend you’re finally embracing. My twelve-year-old is loving her boots and Simply Southern tees. Her cousin likes the black and white Nikes, and as for me? I’m finally going to break down and buy some skinny jeans.
The best show you’re watching (even if Netflix means you’re behind the rest of the world). All the girls voted When Calls the Heart, which I love because it’s family friendly and Brian Bird is one of my favorite people to hang out with at writers’ conferences, but confession: we also got sucked into Once Upon a Time. I was pretty questionable about this until after season 3. The villain becomes a hero? Redemption story? I’m all in.
What you’d like for Christmas–materialism only. No wishing for any of those abstract verbs. One of mine wants straps for her Eno, and one wants more American Girl (ahem, Target knockoff) playthings, and the littles want a swing set because we left ours at the the old house.
And I want a drama-free family event where no one cries. But I’m all good with naps on the couch, and apparently, breaking my own rules.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Lindsey P. Brackett 