This summer, I saw both sides of my family and noticed something that always happens with each side...

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#1

I always get told how I could have done better. One, I’m now in my 50s. Two, I’m part of the management team for a nationwide catering brand in the UK, but they don’t understand that bit!
I let it go because I get to travel home once or twice a year, since COVID, next month will be the first in two years. Not worth getting annoyed about it. I know who I am and my worth.

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MoMcB
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#2

Massive jam session (much of my father's side of the family is musically talented), fish fry and at least one person is going to get dumped in the lake.

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Terilee Bruyere
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#3

Iranian family: Singing and dancing
English family: Long awkward silences

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Jon S.
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#4

My little (4-9) cousins fall asleep on me as I read them a story book I brought for them, after playing with them. Their mother talks with my mother and I remain there, completely helpless because I do NOT want to wake them up. I love them so much if you can’t tell.

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Lucy Skinner
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#5

My sister and her family will be two to three hours late.

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J Rob
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Thorfin Wolfsbane
Thorfin Wolfsbane
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my family, we tell my sister to meet 30-60 minutes BEFORE we will actually be meeting so she is relatively on time.

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#6

I avoid such things like the plague.

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Jods
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#7

My husband and his sisters make a huge batch of homemade gnocchi, as their grandmother and great-grandmother did. Now their children are drawn in. I watch and wait (my family is more the chopped liver and matzoh ball types). I'm delighted to watch the youngsters develop expertise, it's a tradition that really wants continuity!

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Dale-Harriet Rogovich
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Joanna Werman
Joanna Werman
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would have thought that the continuity is less important than the relatives doing it together. All together it's great

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#8

Are you hungry? Have you eaten yet?

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Kona Pake
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ThoughtsAreNotFacts
ThoughtsAreNotFacts
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Showing love by feeding! Have a few of those in my family! Not complaining and I never leave hungry

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#9

My family - Someone died. Only reason we still get together

My wife's family. Laughter, joking, hugs...

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Les Izmore
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#10

Sitting on giant rocks drinking homemade rootbeer

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Monica Michelle
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#11

my mom and ads side of the family are very different, with my moms side of the family, when we get together its usually for a wedding or thanksgiving and its always a bunch of my distant cousins who I've never seen before but knew my mom so i'm ALWAYS bombarded with "you look so much like your mother"
my dads family on the other hand, when we get together its because we hadn't seen each other in a while. and instead of distant cousins, its my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. no matter what happens you can count on at least on night of a full game of Mexican train, and my dad and uncle playing on there guitars. (you can also alway count on there being one or to rounds of "American Pie)

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3 Trash Pandas (She/They)
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#12

We’re all friends, so we talk and eat and laugh a lot! They’re my favorite people to spend time with:)

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Exotic Butters
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#13

My cousins get into a wrestling match.
There is always too much food
My grandma hates me and my mom
It sometimes can turn out ok but most of the time it’s not

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Animelover
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#14

Ok so my family lives kinda all over the place but when we do get together my siblings I get the same thing ever. single. time. "Wow! you're so tall! Have you grown?!" Like bruh just because we're the only ones in this family who ended up with any height at all doesn't mean we grow five inches every time we see y'all.

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Rockstar
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#15

We play computer games. Seriously. When growing up, computers were fascinating things that my uncles were starting to work with, so every time the family got together we would gather as a group to see what these computers could do. It ended up being a christmas tradition that after the food and merriment, we sat down as a family and demonstrated new things and we all played together. Even now, nearly 30 years later, three of my uncles in IT, we still do it. Friedly competition that brings the family together. We're a bunch of nerds :P

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Kira Okah
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#16

My brother and I will get into a serious argument over nothing because we both have to be right. Nearly coming to blows during the argument.

And five seconds after the argument, we end up laughing at each other because it was such a dumb, trivial thing to be arguing over.

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Erick Blood
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DUN DUN
DUN DUN
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same here, but not the last part. The one who's right gets to gloat for the whole day (and it's worse if you got evidence of the win)

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#17

My extended family is pretty normal. We just sit at the table, talk, and try to be polite.

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Titas Burinskas
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#18

Talks. About. Religion. We never fight about it, but we always try to prove whose right and whose wrong.

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Aelita Senvaitytė
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#19

Talking about politics, every single time

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Diana Lopetaitė
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Thorfin Wolfsbane
Thorfin Wolfsbane
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You're lucky, at my family gatherings we don't talk about politics, it's more like one person is silent while the other person screams about politics (who wants to guess who the screamer is affiliated with?).

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#20

A least 2 people make comments on my dyed hair. It's really annoying.

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(Enter Name Here)
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#21

I get deadname, misgendered, and hear homophobic bs while my cousin laughs at it like it's a frickin romcom. And in the other room, you can hear the antivaxxers and their political opinions.

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basically_bill_cipher
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#22

Considering my extended family hardly get together and when we do only my Nan can come. Everybody else is in either Ireland or Scotland. We usually have a nice lunch somewhere. I usually get something from my Mum.

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Murtlap essence
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#23

My one uncle still references nsync and backstreet boys?! I think he saw MTV one time and...?!?

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ThoughtsAreNotFacts
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WildBerry
WildBerry
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Backstreet's "Everybody" is a great video for Halloween time... or anytime. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=backstreet%27s+back+video&view=detail&mid=D6A9F056530ECF5F4755D6A9F056530ECF5F4755&FORM=VIRE0&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dbackstreet%2527s%2bback%2bvideo%26cvid%3deb48a970b4c84266aea126b15fbb3398%26aqs%3dedge.0.0l5.7392j0j1%26pglt%3d299%26FORM%3dANNTA1%26PC%3dU531

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#24

Every time my dad's side of the family meets, someone always ends up shooting a lit roman candle at the rest of the family.

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Aubry
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#25

Once all criticism gets over, karaoke... obviously I find a way to be very busy that day

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Captain Newt
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#26

Drugs. And me being sent out of the room on some flimsy excuse even though I’m an adult and know exactly what they are doing.

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Elizabeth
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#27

me having a panic attack because it's 76% toddlers who all want to play with me

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alex he/him
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#28

Lots of food. Talking about the past and those in the family who have passed away but with fond memories and fun stories.

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WildBerry
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#29

It depends, just my 2 first cousins grandma and grandpa? If so then pool in the summer. Past august? Big leaf pile. Past October? SNOWBALL FIGHT!
Alternatively it could be my 22 other cousins, more of my uncles and aunts too. Then me and my 2 first cousins have been dragged off by 4 other cousins, and of course we have to give an opinion on mascara.

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Final score:
5points
Happi doggi (all pronouns)
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Happi doggi (Submission author)
Happi doggi
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh and I forgot to add that one of my first cousin looks like the boy version of me so we’ve been called “the twins” every time. I’m also 2 inches taller.

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#30

they ALL fight

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Sans
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#31

My aunts will get drunk and fight, someone will comment how much I’ve grown, and my cousin will demand that I film him throwing baseballs

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Scarlett
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#32

As soon as everyone is seated at the table and eating (must be eating) the cameras come out. 3 dozen photo albums full of pictures of various gatherings, same kind of food, same people, different houses. Always the same questions when looking at the albums: "When was this? Where was this? Why was this gathering?" Same people always in mid forkful and boarding house reaches.

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marianne eliza
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Concept-Peter Roosdorp
Concept-Peter Roosdorp
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Photo albums are a thing of the past unfortunately. How many of the pictures that you have snapped digitally have you even looked at afterwards?

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#33

We‘re having a real good time and it‘s always fun, especially with family members that rarely meet each other

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Akalvin
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#34

Awkward
Weird
Fake smile

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Mik J
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DUN DUN
DUN DUN
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ah yes, the fake smiles. I was searching for that this whole time and surprisingly no one's family before this one does any fake smiling! I feel this at a personal level

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#35

My Grandma will get drunk and then randomly sneak up behind you to smack you upside the head for no apparent reason. Everybody's automatically flinching when she comes near.

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GoodWolf
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#36

All my aunts have bad hearing so they yell at each other all the time, they are very noisy. My cousins and me used to flock around my uncle who liked playing with us (he doesn't have kids of his own) and is usually quiet but funny. Now all my cousins have bfs/gfs so I chill with my uncle.

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Nope
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#37

Me, Sisters and Nan - laughing, wine & silliness.
Rest of family - mostly disapproval.

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Sarah Spencer
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#38

1. I drink way too much as an escape.
2. There's lots of loud arguing.
3. If the right combination of family is present, there will be a fist fight at some point.

Quarantine had its good points.

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Rob Stevens
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#39

Someone comments on my sexuality lol

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Thisweirdpanda
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#40

When I was a kid, that was something I’m looking forward to at least once a year. Great and abundance food, a bunch of friends to play with from the moment we opened our eyes till we slept, everybody was sleeping together in a common room, went to recreational places wearing “uniform” clothes, a lot of outdoor picnics. Fast forward to after 30: Nah.

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22Rincut
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#41

My father's side of the family comes from Brabant, a very outgoing and high-energy part of the Netherlands (generally), so we get loud and slightly obnoxious to anyone not involved. My mom, on the other hand, who comes from a slightly rigid and strict upbringing, cannot handle the noise and secretly very much want to go home but can't get my dad away from his seven brothers, two sisters and about a million nieces and nephews :')

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Susie Elle
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#42

We all play dice until midnight for whatever reason

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Hxllokxty (They/it)
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Chloe *Leah* Pheonix (Submission author)
Chloe *Leah* Pheonix
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ngl tho it's pretty fun. Although meeting friends of extended family always feels new every time like we talked uncomfortably for an hour last time and now it feels like I'm meeting you for the first time again

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#43

Everyone gets sick. It's a tradition that's been happening at least since my mom was a kid. She had a family reunion where everyone had the stomach flu and got chicken pox afterwards. As far as I can remember, we've had family gatherings where everyone got pink eye and bronchitis. Once we all prayed no one would get sick during our family gathering, and no one did. But my cousin's got lice. This is a family tradition I hope will end.

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MollyJune
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#44

Mom's side: REALLY good food courtesy of grandma😋
Dad's side: Lots of packaged food and takeout. Also, someone always gets sick🤢

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Ayden Manning
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#45

On my dad's side, someone will probably end up starting a game of dominoes or spades. On my mom's side, there will probably be some sort of argument.

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totally innocent bystander
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#46

Mom's side: Cooking chain (fun!)
Dad's side: Drama show (not fun.)

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Pumpkin Spice
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#47

Where's your boyfriend? Many of your friends are already married

Yeah, after years they asked me to focus on school.

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SRW
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#48

nothing or bad news

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NASA lover
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#49

Lots of stupid board games (for the kids), talking about coding and such (for some adults), talking about who knows what for everyone else. And usually someone ends up coming late or leaving early.

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memyselfandI
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#50

More DUIs than people in the room, I don't have any (I don't drink) and am the odd ball.

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ThoughtsAreNotFacts
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#51

Our daughter will remind everyone she is a vegan. (We know, that is why there are vegan dishes prepared for you.)
My father-in-law will describe his grand plan for a BBQ/pizza oven in his back yard. The same one he has been planning for at least 10 years.

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John Yaskowich
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Concept-Peter Roosdorp
Concept-Peter Roosdorp
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some plans are not plans, they are dreams in disguise. Not important to follow through with, but important to have. Mine is building a sailboat and sailing around the world.

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#52

my mom and my uncle always get into a hopeless argument about politics and my uncle wins because he's a lawyer.

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Axolotl
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Concept-Peter Roosdorp
Concept-Peter Roosdorp
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

politics is just a collection of opinions. There is usually no right or wrong.

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#53

On one side, dancing, cornhole tournament, tables of games and coloring for kids. Lots of guilt being slung about. Chocolate popcorn, good food.

Other side over-polite dinner conversation, ridiculously bland food.

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Helen Haley
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WildBerry
WildBerry
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Cornhole" was a term for a**l sex when I was young. Now it's the name of a lawn game. Nice.

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#54

My family will be late, and then the rest of the family will make sexist/racist/homophobic jokes.

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Me Oh My (He/They)
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#55

A fight about some inane subject

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Duncan
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#56

Everyone tells me how tall I have gotten since last time, than we start talking about baseball (and sometimes music)

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Someone remind me my name
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#57

Political arguments.

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Zophra
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