“Ooooohhhhmmmm.” “Serenity now.” “Count back from 10.” “Where does Aunt Linda keep her Valium?” There are a lot of strategies to help you deal with stress of the holiday season. Family togetherness – especially extended family – can be one of the biggest stressors of a person’s entire year.
I miss the school-aged days when getting together with my huge amount of cousins for the holidays was one of my favorite things to do, but I saw how most of those cousins voted in the last election, and therefore it’s not so much fun in our 30s. But we don’t just get together with extended family for the holidays, we get extended time off work! It’s supposed to be a happy time, a celebration! How are we supposed to handle simultaneously dreading weird familial dynamics AND appreciate our extra time to be off work, at home, eating and lounging and being grateful??
Well, when your family does their best to make enjoying your weekend impossible, grab some alone time (or a Valium) and try these stress-relievers.
Four Things to Do When Thanksgiving Gets Tense
Take a Kid to See Wonder
Grab a niece or a little cousin or your own kid and take lengthy weeping break to go weep at the new movie, Wonder. I have two kids. One of them will go to the movies with me to see ANYthing. She loves movies from romance to horror. The other hates leaving the house, and usually refuses to see all movies I want to see on the principle that I like it, so it must not be cool. This child dragged me to see My Little Pony The Movie … twice.
I had to drag her to see Wonder. And neither of us regretted it. When Wonder was announced, we were excited because Jacob Tremblay is a damn treasure and that book is so completely great, that it had to be match made in adaptation heaven. We were right, but also pleasantly surprised that the supporting cast (especially the kids) were just as good.
But we were also counting out the appropriate amount of Kleenex to absorb our copious tears, and that turned out to be prophetic. BUCKETS of tears. But so worth it. That kid of mine who hates going to see movies I recommend? She cried and laughed and APPLAUDED when this movie ended. She had an EXPERIENCE, and therefore, so did I.
Read Fence #1
The newest universe from CS Pacat has finally made its way into our greedy, hot hands, and there is not better way to let your mind go hazy for an hour or two than being introduced to Seiji and Nicholas. We told you to get excited about Fence when it was first announced, and all those reasons still stand in this first issue.
How will it help with your Turkey Day stress? These characters are cute and new. We don’t know who they are yet. You could spend a very satisfying hour or so diagramming which hot guy is which just based on their hairstyles. Also, there is a satisfying match between the two main characters that has an actual outcome. Feel like skewering a loud-mouthed cousin over apple pie? Enjoy Seiji and Nicholas’ first parlay instead. Is there something called a parlay in fencing? I HAVE NO IDEA, but Nicholas has a very swoopy undercut.
Watch Mudbound
Sitting down to a Mississippi period family drama after your Cousin Ibella knitted everyone MAGA beanies and made you all wear them before she’d bring the sweet potatoes out doesn’t SOUND like a good time, but trust me, it’s worth it.
Not only is this epic drama about two families on the same plot of land trying to make a living after WWII getting some major first-time Oscar buzz for Netflix and director, Dee Rees, but it’s also a really great treatise on friendship, dysfunctional family and the power of familial love as well.
How will it help with your Turkey Day Stress? Garret Hedlund’s deeeeeep vocal fry, and Carey Mulligan’s surprisingly accurate Memphis twang as well as a SMACK YOU IN THE FACE HOW DID SHE performance from Mary J Blige.
Go To Murder on the Orient Express
Don’t have a kid to steal and want to spend a few hours at the theater without crying? Go see Murder on the Orient Express. Written by one of our very favorite showrunners, Michael Green, of American Gods awesomeness, and directed by the legend known around here as KennyB (Kenneth Branagh), this movie was a DELIGHT.
I’ve loved Agatha Christie books since the 7th grade when my quirky science teacher gave me And Then There Were None when she was done with it. It smelled like her, and I fell in love with mystery reading after that. Seeing Kenneth Branagh’s perfect Hercule Poirot mustache and the gorgeous, breath-stealing scenery as the Orient Express moves through the eastern European landscapes will help you escape whatever madness you’re dealing with at your Mammaw’s house.
What are your Thanksgiving Day plans? Do you have family drama you will need to escape?
