Talk about a family rollacoaster....

[daleanime]

too fast with the highs and the lows.

This thanksgiving I made it to our family event after having missed a few years. The family does a fairly large dinner, we take over one of the local fire departments dinning halls. Everyone brings a dish to pass and a wrapped present. After dinner we hold our annual 'white elephant'. Its great family fun to see some one spent $25 on spam and fruitcake. This years we raised over $750. Trust me, in my family, this is a lot of money.

We take that $ and adopt two or three families for christmas. Its not hard to find people who have 'fallen on hard times'. The kids get coats, boots, clothing (as needed) and a couple 'toys'. The volunteers from the fire department make sure the kitchen is stocked for the holidays. They tend to focus on the basics-veg's, rice, etc... but they made sure to include a turkey or ham for christmas dinner.

And my family has been doing this for 15 years. Yeah, I'm kind of proud of them.

Then came Saturday.

My sister was in the area visiting her 'church' friends and her grandson wanted to see his uncle. Hey, what can I say, kids and dogs like me. So out to lunch we go.

Let's get this out of the way now, I love my sister, BUT.... she's a complete and total moran. When our conversation started drifting into dangerous places, I made a mistake. I asked her about the new pope.

Well it turns out that she really doesn't like him. He's too encouraging of that 'homosexual' lifestyle. And don't you know if we allow that then next its pedophiles.

When I had picked my jaw up off the floor I had to ask her what connection there was between the two. "Well both were listed as mental illness, now only one is. So soon that one will be approved of too."

Folks I tried. For long as I could keep her focused I tried to sever this connection in her mind. I failed. If we 'allow' the gay into our world, then of course we allow child abuse also.

And I was feeling so good about my family. Thanks for letting me vent.

[AndyA]

1. I understand completely.

My brother is the same way. Can't even begin to think of the number of times I've tried to educate him on the facts over the years.

Finally, one day after he made some incredibly stupid remark about something he'd heard on hate radio, I just said to him, "You must have a brain tumor."

That pretty much put an end to the crazy right wing talk at family gatherings.

[daleanime]

3. Thank you....

I sure its all too common of a problem. Have a great holidays.

[AndyA]

5. Thank you--hope your holidays are wonderful as well!

[Stargazer09]

2. Please continue to feel good about your family

Adopting less fortunate families is still a good thing to do, even if your sister has made a faulty mental connection.

[daleanime]

4. Thank you....