When the Holiday Surprise is that you got engaged!

Seeing old friends is a fun part of going home for the holidays. If you just got engaged, it’s doubly true, because you can share your joy with friends and family back in your home town.  If you and your fiancé can manage to zip your lips, this festive season is perfect for a surprise announcement at a family party, or at a favorite watering hole full of college buddies. So cover up that ring, bite your tongue and head on home.  As far as you’re concerned the only surprise at your holiday dinner will be what’s in Aunt Estelle’s casserole.

Travel safely everyone!

-Dinah

ps- if you know your mom, or best friend will be crushed to not have been in on the surprise, unzip your lip and make them swear not to ruin your big reveal. They’ll be honored to be ‘first’ to know.

What’s a wedding for, anyway? These two have an interesting answer, bless their hearts.

Congratulations To David Friedlander and Jacqueline Schmidt.

I admit it, I had a hard time processing this article about their wedding from today’s New York Times. I knew there were people in Brooklyn opening restaurants that only serve popovers, and shopping in artisanal hardware stores. But I was unaware that this particular strain of children of the free range, organic, unprocessed corn, had begun to infuse weddings with their intense navel gazing. And apparently, these two believed their wedding to be the ultimate chance to say, “Hey, world! Look at our navels!”

In all sincerity, I wish the Friedlander-Schmidt duo a great deal of happiness, love and a blissful newlywed year. But guys, when you let a New York Times reporter gaze at your navel, all we saw was overpriced lint.

No Place Like Home For The Holidays. Can I get an amen?

No, the holidays sure do take things up a notch at home. Something about coming home to be merry and bright is exhausting. And when we’re tired, the universal family nonsense ( or as we say in yiddish, mishegas) gets amplified, and suddenly it’s an episode of Days of Our Lives, without the funny window washer guy and the evil twin cheerleaders. Holidays are just the worst for family drama.

Unfortunately, for families with daytime Emmy hopes, weddings can be worse. If you are engaged, and expecting a volatile Week coming up take advantage of it. Pull aside the worst offenders, and point out how their behavior upsets you. Try to use “I” statements, and do not be accusatory. Then add “I really hope not to experience that on my wedding day.” Hopefully something will click, and your wedding will be more silver screen, and less soap opera.

Happy Holidays!

Dinah