Some people in my family get stressed out about seeing the extended family members on Thanksgiving Day. It doesn't bother me much since I only see them once a year and while we don't have much in common, they are all quite nice, and many of them bring very delicious food to eat (I think I ate half of my aunt's pound cake this weekend**).

The womenfolk in my family had lunch at Olexa's in Mtn Brook one day this weekend. And there are a lot of women in my family. We don't make boys, so my father is the patriarch of a harem.

On the menu were sandwiches and salads, as well as bitching. For four bucks you can get a huge slice of her famous cake (vanilla or chocolate), and it is one of those experiences that is so delicious you'll never forget it. I'm salivating right now as I type this.

Since it was Thanksgiving, my female relatives (including myself) did the opposite of being thankful. My sister is ticked off, as she is every year, that she has to drive her kids all of twenty minutes to her in-laws to have a Christmas meal, which she claims isn't very good. She spends the equivalent of ten days stressing out about an event that lasts three hours. Also, she says that her in-laws are not nice enough to her children (their grandkids). My niece's birthday party proved her wrong as the grandparents came over, loved on those kids to death, and showered the birthday girl with gifts. Must it have to be a requisite that you must hate your in-laws? I'm quite tired of the parental strife and wouldn't want to double it by getting married.

My mother calls my aunt so-and-so a control freak and the other aunt so-and-so is overly negative and judgmental. Pot, meet kettle. Pot, meet kettle.

My mother says that my deceased paternal grandmother was a total bitch and it's all I can do to keep myself from reminding her that my father definitely picked someone to marry who is just like his mother.

My aunt told me that I wouldn't be able to build wealth in the state of Alabama due to the nine percent sales tax. I did not disagree with her as I think it's funny to play as if I am poor, since displays of material wealth are not a boost for self-esteem, anyhow.

I ate my words on a plate when I said that my cousin's children were going to raise all hell and damnation during the family reunion, and they were instead well-behaved. Well, boys will be boys, but they expended most of their energy outside in the yard.

The womenfolk's behavior makes me realize that there are much more important things to complain about than the petty things that bother them. Like, for instance, complaining that they complain all the time.

I suppose we don't agree on a lot of things in my family. We push each other's buttons every year. But we do agree on one major thing: good food. Eat a big meal, then have sweets for dessert. Yum!

**My post-Thanksgiving weigh-in indicated no weight gain!