What is your extended family's annoying tendency?

[Darth_Kitten]

Mine is the tendency to play favourites, somebody always has to be the "favourite" A cruel and mean way to treat people. :(

At my grandma's funeral, been a member of the family for 25 years, and STILL seemed like an outsider(I'm a stepchild). :(

No wonder I like to spend a lot of time alone. :)

[AlCzervik]

1. Passive aggressiveness--they get pissed at you and tell everyone except

you. I live 3000 miles away for a reason, i love them but i'm the black sheep of my family.

[Darth_Kitten]

3. I don't know why family is so much on my mind these days....

seems like there is still a lot of tension in my family and I'm caught in the middle.

:( I so long for "normal".

[AlCzervik]

5. The family drama is another thing i don't miss at all, i was always tense

when I lived in Massachusetts and it was family related or i should say the way i let it affect me.

[skygazer]

20. I don't think there is such a thing as normal

Honestly, everyone I've ever met had a screwed up family in one way or another.

[Pithlet]

11. Ugh. Yes.

Mine is often like that, too.

[Elidor]

2. republicanism

My parents are flaming libs, thank god, but everyone else is a die-hard, unreconstructed reb. Church people who think Robert E. Lee was a hero and the bible is the literal word of god. As someone who loathes religion and despises Bobby Lee, I don't have much to say to any of them. And it's very much their loss.

[asthmaticeog]

4. Longevity.

:evilgrin:

[WindRavenX]

6. heavy drinking and fighting

x(

[Darth_Kitten]

7. Drinking, too.....

How could I forget. :(

this is for you. :hug:

[miss_kitty]

8. they try to talk to me

:eyes:

[Darth_Kitten]

9. What are they like?

:(

[miss_kitty]

14. Actually

I was kidding. I really don't have extended family, except the Norwegians, and I haven't spoken to any of them for years.
My mom's mom was sweet, and my dad's family members were all traumatised by his mom, who could make Barbara Bush sob like a little girl.

[childslibrarian]

18. Wow

I'm impressed. Barbara Bush? No kidding.

[miss_kitty]

19. Yeah that grandma was a. horrible. person.

Bar hasn't got a patch on her.

[yellowdogintexas]

10. perpetually leaving somebody out of the loop.

my husband has 4 siblings, two adult and married nephews and one adult niece. It is a big group.

We like to get together occasionally, but it is difficult at times..

But we all have email and phones.

Always, always, when we get together there will be a couple or three of us who find out about some fairly important event or news of the family that we weren't told.

That is my pet peeve about my sisters and brothers in law.

As for my extended family...we are perfect. LOL..Actually my two sisters and our three adult cousins adore one another, get along great and have a tremendously hilarious good time when we manage to get together.
So my biggest annoying tendancy about my own extended family is that we are too scattered about.

Three are in Kentucky and get together fairly regularly. One is in Mississippi, one in Connecticut and one in Texas. Makes it hard.
Our last reunion was a year ago over Labor Day, to divvy up our grandmother's furniture and other things. We had a blast.

[Ladyhawk]

12. The whole fundy / RW thing is pretty annoying.

:shrug:

[BensMom]

13. not connecting

My Mom can only talk about the weather. Even after a huge event with the kids at school..or if I haven't seen her for awhile..it's still.."Gee we sure need rain"
And then more weather. Maybe it's a midwest thing. No excuse.
I'd like to hear a "How are you doing..?'

I have spent so much time trying to figure it out. The one thing you learn from an annoying tendency - is it's a behavior you never want to have.

[driver8]

15. There is a reason that I live in Los Angeles and they all live back East.

The annoyance tendency is extremely low!!

[Initech]

16. They're all really loud, obnoxious, drunk Italians!

And I personally have no problems with that!

[childslibrarian]

17. Getting into people's business

Having an opinion, even when you don't know the whole story.

[spacelady]

21. Catapulting Propaganda. n/y

[Shine]

22. Well, my BIL is mentally ill...literally. Does that count?

My hubby is his official Conservator and manages most of the details of his life, because both their parents are dead. Every weekend, and I mean EVERY weekend, we must spend part of Saturday dealing with him...giving him his weekly money, taking him food shopping, getting him cigarettes, a haircut..whatever. This is hard b/c we have two school age kids and the w/e's are precious family time. With my BIL, there's always something and I really struggle sometimes to remain compassionate b/c he is mentally ill, afterall. He's schizophrenic, but as long as he stays on his meds and doesn't go do something stupid, (like getting drunk with his "friends", which he has done many, many times) he can actually be pretty functional.

He's actually a couple of years older than me, but in many ways he's like having a teenager. The dynamic between my hubby and him is more parental than anything else. Having a mentally ill BIL is strange and yet, he comes with the package of being married to my husband so what am I gonna do, except try to deal with it/him as gracefully as I can? :shrug:

We're all just doin' the best we can...

~Shine

[intheflow]

23. Drinking, Republicanism, Loud & Obnoxious.

But that's all three sides of the family. (Don't ask, just believe me, I have three sides of my family.)

The good part is the alcoholic and loud & obnoxious sides are also overwhelmingly liberal. :thumbsup:

[youthere]

24. Competition with each other...

Everybody wants to be the "big shot" in my family so they spend a lot of time trying to "out do" each other. Then when they all get together they are so sweet and nice to each other it makes you sick.