Well this is more of an observation than a seeking of advice. What I really need is to complain (as usual) and get this off my chest.

We may not be a large family but we are a blended one. Some of us have had more than one marriage too. All of this makes for rather complicated holiday arrangements and someone always seems to have their nose out of joint and fails to at least try to understand the dynamics.

My adult children maintain contact with not only their biological father's family but their step-dad too. The same goes for my brother's adult sons. Add to this new family relationships from our present partners and you get a very complicated and difficult plan to accommodate as many as you can over a holiday.

Take this (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend for instance. We had multiple dinners over the three days we were invited to. Obviously some people are going to be terribly disappointed. Sigh. You can't win in such a situation.

The person in our life who reacts the most is my step-mother. The woman is 65 and set in her ways and refuses to try to comprehend the position everyone is put in to make hard decisions. No matter what we do she pulls a tantrum. This weekend it was being outraged that we held our main family dinner on the Saturday. What a fit she made - and makes every year. It happens each Xmas, and Easter too. Frankly I have grown tired of her antics. For goodness sake woman, we are at least fitting you in. Do you not realise we have turned down other invites to make this particular one a priority?

Anyway, enough ranting. And thank you for listening. Arrrgh. This has become so very tiring.