Ah, family. The people who raise us, change us, support us — and ultimately, continue to confound us. Most of us would probably attest that our families can be a lot sometimes.
Whether they entail dealing with overbearing parents, unfiltered aunts and uncles, rowdy grandchildren, or moody teenagers, family gatherings can be a little stressful at times. Maybe we have family members who refuse to talk to each other, or there are certain topics guaranteed to trigger explosive arguments at the dinner table. Whatever the case may be, sometimes the only thing we can really do is laugh — to find humor in the inanity of our relatives’ comments and behavior and choose to see the lighter side of things for our own sanity’s sake.
Below, we’ve rounded up 12 quotes as a reminder not to get too bogged down by the potential aggravations that arise when we get together with our families. After all, no matter how much we may get on each others’ nerves, there are still lots of reasons why we want to spend time with our relatives in the first place.
Happiness is having a loving, close-knit family in another city.George Burns
Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say.Rick Riordan
A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it.Mary Karr
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.Robert Frost
Cousins are the barometers of how fun a family get-together will be. “Are the cousins going to be there? Fun!”Jim Gaffigan
Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts.Wayne Huizenga
Obviously, if I was serious about having a relationship with someone long-term, the last people I would introduce him to would be my family.Chelsea Handler
A family without a black sheep is not a typical family.Heinrich Böll
Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.P.J. O’Rourke
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.George Bernard Shaw
If minutes were kept of a family gathering, they would show that “Members Not Present” and “Subjects Discussed” were one and the same.Robert Breault
I wish I could relate to the people I’m related to.Jeff Foxworthy
Featured image credit: John Lamparski/ WireImage via Getty Images
