I have watched Four Christmases two times now, and must admit I love this movie! I am all about Christmas movies this time of year and you will find me more often than not snuggled up with the kids and my husband on the couch watching ABC Family’s Countdown to Christmas every night! Today they have Christmas shows on all day long, and if I didn’t have so much to do I would be planted on the couch today!
In the movie Four Christmases, a happily unmarried couple named Kate and Brad have spent the last three years lying to their their family at Christmas time to avoid having to visit four family’s. Kate and Brad both have divorced parents which means they would have to visit four family’s every year on Christmas day to keep their family happy. Instead of simply trying to work it out they lie to their family every year and take a vacation. The saying Brad uses, which certainly comes from his father, is “You can’t spell families without lies”. Now this is true, try spelling families without the lies and well YOU CAN’T.
This brings me to a topic of is it really okay to lie to your family? I honestly do not like lying, it is the one thing in this world that gets under me skin. I am the type of person who would rather you tell me to my face the truth than hide behind deceit. I am a strong person and although I may not agree with what you have to say, I usually have more respect for a person when they can tell me the truth. It takes courage to be an honest person no matter what!
I am not super close to my family, we don’t have any huge family gatherings. It is my mother in law who does a huge Christmas dinner and stresses out about what she is going to get us and the grandkids. I personally am just happy and thankful to have a family and to have a great great grandmother still living and doing rather well overall. I couldn’t imagine lying to my family on Christmas day, after all the holidays are suppose to be a time of joy and visiting your family, catching up with what is new and what their year has brought them.
Like I said, my family doesn’t do any Christmas gatherings and so I never really had to deal with visiting four family’s on Christmas day so maybe that’s why I can’t understand how a couple would lie to stay away from their family this time of year. I guess I can understand how someone would dread the fact that they have to get together with their family this time of year, the obligation alone could be stressful, however, to actually follow through with the lie is crazy! Which brings me to a question for you, do you ever lie to your family during the holidays to avoid having to visit them?
Make it a Happy Day!
You Can't Spell Families Without Lies – http://happilyblended.com/2009/12/spell-families-lies/ Taken from Four Christmases, your thoughts?
RT @brandyellen: You Can't Spell Families Without Lies – http://happilyblended.com/2009/12/spell-families-lies/ Taken from Four Christm …
Oh we LOVED that movie. I wish we still did a big Christmas, but since losing my grandma almost 2 yrs ago we don’t. I don’t think I’ve lied to my family about the holidays. Though my family is 99% crazy so maybe I should lol.
.-= Brandy´s last blog ..Santa’s Secrets: YouCanMakeThis =-.
I dont think families need to be entirely open though. Sometimes lies keep the peace. Like my DH told my MIL that i was sick on thanksgiving but the truth is i just didnt want to hang out w/ her that day because she pissed me off.
LOL
.-= trisha´s last blog ..Small Talk Six: (and giveaway!) =-.
Not sure I’d recommend lying, but I do get that it’s hard to say NO to your family. We travel to our families every year because we don’t have kids. Last year I decided I wanted to have Christmas in my own house – the rest of the family was invited, but those with kids didn’t make the trip. It was hard and a little disappointing, but I understood, just as I’d hope they understood our desire to start some of our own traditions.
.-= TURTLE´s last blog ..The Shell is 1! =-.
I have been wanting to see that movie! I watched The Proposal the other night instead. Maybe I’ll watch this one this weekend.
We used to do the visiting on Christmas thing and, honestly, it sucked. I hated trudging out in the cold on Christmas morning and hopping from house to house. When we had our first child, we decided to stop the craziness. We didn’t lie… we just said we ain’t doing it anymore! Now, we have a strict ‘no travel’ rule, but any family that want to come to our house are welcome. 🙂
.-= Brandi´s last blog ..Round Robin =-.
I’ve never seen the movie, but now you’ve peeked my interest. I don’t make lying a habit. When my parents first divorced, I ‘m sure I lied a couple of times during the holidays not to hurt their feelings. Then I just started telling the truth and told them that I was going to spend the holidays wherever I felt like it and I would not be torn between two families and feel obligated to go to 4 different places every year. Too much! Thanks for stopping by my blog.
I grew up having Christmas at home, and I went back for quite a while as an adult. But when you have a spouse or partner–and even moreso if you have kids–you deserve to create your own traditions and memories in your own home. So that’s what we’ve done. No excuses necessary, and therefore no lies. Thank goodness, because I really wouldn’t want to be with all my sibs, some of whom, shall we say, haven’t matured well.
Happy Saturday Sharing!
I have that movie on my Netflix queue!! Can’t wait to see it!
My family is like yours…it’s not big at all and I’m not fairly close to anyone. My mom stresses me out, my dad lives in another state with his strange wife and my sister is too busy with her own family to get together with ours.
I don’t know about the whole lying thing…not sure if it’s right or not. But I could understand it if it’s just a stressful situation that you don’t want to be a part of.
Stopping by from SITS..happy Saturday!
.-= Helene´s last blog ..Decking the halls…. =-.
yes i have lied. I sort of did it for Thanksgiving. My in-laws have been horrible to me for the past few months and I just don’t want to be around them. I don’t think that I will be able to get away with it for Christmas but luckily there will be other family members there who are nice to me and the in-law will want to keep up a good appearance so they will have to behave themselves. At least I hope they will.
.-= Kelly W´s last blog ..Small Talk Six: Love/hate relationship with relatives =-.
My husband would rather lie to his family then tell them he hates spending time with them…I miss the family gatherings of my youth, but we just don’t have a close group now. Sad…but I don’t know if I would lie to get out of something or not…
But I can certainly understand the desire…
.-= Dawn´s last blog ..Time to take care of buisness… =-.
I think little white lies are okay at times. They can get you out of a mess! I actually never heard of this movie until now. I definitely will watch!
.-= Kim´s last blog ..Grounds for Divorce =-.
RT @brandyellen Four Christmases You Can't Spell Families Without Lies | Happily Blended http://bit.ly/5iDmSU
Oh, I so want to see this movie! After hearing some of your praise, I just may have to rent it tonight!
Happy SITS Saturday Sharefest!!
.-= Jennifer – Somewhere In Between´s last blog ..There’s No Place Like {Barnes & Noble} =-.
I was wondering about this movie! Thank you for your excellent review!
Oh – and we don’t lie. LOL. But we don’t tell the whole truth. LOLOL.
.-= Erin´s last blog ..Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party =-.
Like yours, our family doesn’t usually get together for a big holiday event. We usually meet up with different parts of the family on different days, reserving Christmas morning for ourselves at home.
When gatherings are in conflict, we don’t lie. We just have a “first ask, first get” policy. Whoever invites us first is where we go that day. In other words, if you want us to be at your gathering, better invite us early…LOL!
If for some reason we don’t want to attend, we just say that we don’t feel like attending. Some people don’t like our blunt approach, but at least we aren’t lying.
Did You Catch This Older Article? : You Can't Spell Families Without Lies http://is.gd/5v8yy