Gather Round The Dinner Table And Laugh With Your Big Family About These 16 Truths

by N/A, 10 years ago | 3 min read

The holidays are just chaos.

1. Reuniting with your cousins is always the most exciting thing about family get-togethers.

No matter if it's been a year, months, or hours since you last saw each other, you're always ecstatic to see your cousins at family gatherings because you know they're the ones who keep you sane.

2. You have a family BFF who you take all your selfies with, spill the deets of your life to and gossip about your weird cousins with.

They have your back and you have theirs. It's more than just a friendship - you two grew up together so they know who you are at your core, what makes you tick and most importantly, all of the awkward phases in your life that make you who you are today.

3. You're pretty much immune to loud noise and people yelling over each other.

How else are you supposed to get your point across?

4. There's always the one quiet kid in the family that sometimes people unintentionally forget about.

You can ask them everything from, "how's school?" to "are you dating anyone?" to "what they think about the refugee crisis in Syria?" and they will give you one-word answers. They're the black sheep of the family, but you wouldn't trade them for anyone else.

5. Group photos are nearly impossible because there's always one person that ruins it.

UGH, there's nothing more frustrating than when you look hot in a photo but your aunt was sneezing or your baby cousin was crying. No matter how many retakes, you can't recreate how good you looked in that one photo. Such a tragedy.

6. During the holidays, you develop a gift system because it's nearly impossible to buy a gift for everyone.

But you end up trading anyway because trying to find a gift that your eight-year-old cousin who loves One Direction and your musician brother would both be OK with having just doesn't fly.

7. Cooking for everyone is nearly impossible.

Most of the time, you just get takeout or delivery because there's no way you can accommodate a vegetarian, a paleo and all the kids in the family.

8. There's times you can't help but feel jealous of things your siblings or cousins have that you don't.

You swear you told your older cousin first about the Topshop dress you wanted, and now she bought it?! Ughhhh.

9. But you get their hand-me-downs anyway.

DAMN RIGHT, YOU DO.

10. In school, teachers always judge you by your older sibling's reputation... for better or for worse.

You and your brother can be as different as night and day but your teachers just assume you're the same person.

11. You can never keep track of how old your younger cousins are, because they're forever 6 in your mind.

If they're getting older, that means I'm getting older...

12. When you were younger, you were forced to sit at the kids table even though you desperately wanted to eat with the grown-ups.

20 years later, you're still seated at the kids table.

13. Carpooling requires tons of squishing and forced bonding time.

See: #3

14. You have a hard time saying goodbye to each other after family functions.

Yes, I'll text you in 5 minutes.

15. Extended family time makes you mentally need to recharge in solitude.

Finally, some peace and quiet! Alone time has never felt so good after a big family event.

16. As much as your family gets on your nerves or exhausts you, at the end of the day, you have a huge squad of people who have your back on everything.