"Oh, I just get involved with other things & I forget..."

"That darn (phone / answering machine / service.) I don't know what's going on. I seem to miss allot of calls..."

"Oh... did you call?"



There's a gambit in the sales biz you might try, if you feel up to it. The technique is: first someone asks a question you don't really want to get into. You reply with some general answer such as: "Oh... did you call?" Then immediately ask them a question on some other topic, such as: "Say that reminds me, did you happen to see that (movie / TV program / presidential address / etc.) the other night? What did you think..."

When someone else asks you a question, they take control of the conversation. But by doing what I've described above, you deflect their question & take back control of the conversation. This takes a bit of practice. But where better to practice it than when you see your family, since you're probably going to have to see them anyway. And, really, you'd like to if you could just avoid the interrogations.