Check me into the looney bin please

Been a while - sorry.
Y'know.. holidays and what not. Just wrapping up Thanksgiving stuff, which means I guess I should get mentally prepared for Christmas.

Here's something that deep down I know is true, but sometimes I have a hard time coming to grips with; more times than not, you can't change people. They are the way they are. They're that way because it works for them, or they've just been that way for so long that it's all they know.

I am reminded of this as I spend holiday time in close quarters with in-laws.

Here is the truth; I like my in-laws and enjoy spending time with them. They are interesting people and I certainly can have fun with them. However, there is a certain measure of bad juju that can creep in after some of them stay at my house for more than a couple of days. It comes from the guests in question forgetting that the house they are staying in isn't their house, and that those young kids in the house - while being their grandkids - still are not their kids, and that maybe they don't know the absolute right way to do absolutely everything.

And then there's the issue from the other side. I have a hard time understanding that if the guest takes milk out of the fridge and leaves it on the counter with the top off in their own home, then they likely don't see a problem with doing it in someone else's home. If I could be at peace with that "you can't change people" thing, then maybe I wouldn't work myself into a state of being resentful and pissed off (and that's on a good day).

I think I need to remember to take a deep breath every now and then.

If the above sounded like venting - it's because it was. Thanks for letting me do that.

Geo