Bring a date?
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- November
- 23
Do you get upset when you’re hosting a holiday dinner for your family and a guest asks if he can bring a date?
I don’t mind. Really, I don’t.
I’ve got an older relative who dates quite a bit, and he asked me recently if he could bring a new woman to Thanksgiving dinner. I said sure, provided she wasn’t younger than I am. (I was kidding, of course. No, seriously, I was…)
Interestingly, he told me that not everybody likes the idea of him showing up with a date.
One year, a good friend told him quite firmly that he was invited for Thanksgiving, but alone.
I guess there are different ways of looking at it. If you’re always used to a family only affair, a new face (and a potentially transient one, at that) might create tension at the table. On the other hand, I think guests add a certain degree of festivity to a celebration.
As for our Thanksgiving this year, I just learned that the date is not coming after all. So I can relax about the turkey, I guess.
Have you had any weird or unexpected guests at your family gatherings?
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 5:02 pm by Linda Lombroso.
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Baby boomer Linda Lombroso was born in Queens and grew up in Port Washington. She began her journalism career at New York Magazine and Rolling Stone, and came back to the field after spending 10 years as a stay-at-home mother. Linda joined The Journal News in 1997 and has been a Life & Style writer since 2000. She has three children.
My family is always bringing ‘strays’ home for the holidays, especially the college age ones. There are certain people who simply cannot go home for every holiday because of the distance involved. We look at it as an opportunity to talk to someone new, instead of the same old conversation with Aunt Bertha. Isn’t that what holidays are all about? Goodwill toward all? Invite a shut-in, single friend, or someone who has just lost a loved one. What’s one more chair?
I have you all beat. 15 years ago, at our wedding rehearsal dinner, one of the bridesmaids, not only brought her parents but the pseudo boyfriend.
I was not happy about any of it. I liked her parents and all. and i almost looked the other way but having this guy , whom I also knew, there that were not part of the wedding party.
But i didnt let it get me. we had fun i paid.. and that was it..
Momanon—I agree that it’s really nice to invite people who might not have family nearby. I remember how happy I’ve been when I’ve been invited to other people’s family celebrations.
Steve-I admire the way you handled that situation. But really, what can you do the day of the wedding? Have a tantrum? Glad your day went well!