Photo Credit: Johnson Lee

Holidays are wonderful – full of fun, full of family, full of laughter and yes… full of hassle.

Every two years, our family gets together to celebrate the holidays.  All told, there are 20 of us and, as a I write this, we are smack dab in the middle of Glomfest 2018.

Over the years, we have honed our “glomming” skills.  Glomming means that we travel around in a group of 20 – out to lunch, out to a movie, and from one house back to the other.  The glom also involves 12 handed card games of Gyoba canasta (our special version with special rules), jello blocks and lots of rice crackers to snack on.

The lucky ones who have married into the glom have had to adjust their expectations to understand that we will spend almost every single moment together and we will schedule multiple glomming events throughout each day.  And although some took a little longer to come around, everyone has now happily embraced the glom.

Last night, the glom went to see the holiday lights at Lafarge Lake, which were spectacular.  Just prior to the walk, we each received a fuzzy animal pyjama to sport during Glomfest 2018.  We decided as a group to go as a fuzzy animal pack on our walk around the lake.  There were lots of deep belly laughs as we walked around enjoying the lights and others immediately loved the energy of the glom.  In fact, the photo above was taken by a man we met named Johnson who not only loved our animal pj themed glom but joined in and became an honourary glom member for the photo above. (Can you spot Johnson in the photo above?)

Glom…glom…glom…

Not everything about the glom is easy.  Cooking for 20 is challenging, as is finding places for everyone to sleep.  And although we all get along well, tensions inevitably arise when we spend this much time together.  In fact, predictably, around the seven day mark, some members of the glom start to get annoyed with each other because of the sheer amount of time that we spend together.

That is when Rachel brings our her pep talk for all of us: “It’s a normal part of glomming to get annoyed with each other.  We just have to push through it – it’s an important life skill to be able to manage these relationship dynamics.  And most importantly: always remember…the hassle is the fun!”

The hassle is the fun. 

Without the hassle, we wouldn’t be able to create the amazing memories of our Glomfests for our children.  And we wouldn’t have so many uproarious, deep belly laughs as a family about our crazy antics.  In the years that follow, no one will remember the hassle but everyone will remember the fun!

So for all of you celebrating the holidays with family…when you get to the point where tensions are high and things are becoming a huge hassle, remember: the hassle is the fun!  And the fun will live on in your family’s memories forever!

Happy holidays!  We hope that your holidays are full of fun (even with all the hassle)!

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