I hope everyone had a joyous, safe holiday season, regardless of what or how you celebrate!

I know I’ve been quite absent since the election. It doesn’t mean I haven’t had plenty to say. Rather, it means that I’ve had a lot going on.

I’ve read numerous posts on Twitter (won’t call it X just to bug the hell out of Musk!) about families that have been torn apart by the election. Parents forbid their children, or rather dis-invited them, to come for Christmas. I know how these family “squabbles” start – we have it in my family, too!

Yes, my son and his wife and kids are all Trump supporters. Obviously, I am not and neither is my sister. In case you didn’t know, my sister moved in with me when my mother passed away in 2022. I love my sister, but she does sometimes have a problem with boundaries! Her intentions are good, but she can push to try to “understand” the other person’s point of view. She can also “push” her beliefs too hard, trying to get you to understand why she’s right!

My philosophy regarding the situation is to just ignore the issue. In other words, don’t ask and don’t tell. I try to keep discussions off politics, not just with my son and his family but also with anyone I know who has opposite opinions. I hate confrontations and I don’t want to sever relationships – especially over “that man”!

So, before the holidays, my sister kept asking my son questions such as “why did you vote for him”, “what is it about him that makes you trust him”, etc. My son has repeatedly asked my sister to leave it alone – he does not want to engage in any conversation about Trump.

Well, my sister pushed once too often. She sent my son a text or email with a link to a discussion that she felt explained why she believes what she believes. Her intent? She wanted him to know what “made her tick” with the hope that he would reciprocate. It backfired spectacularly.

My son said he did not want to see her, talk to her, have anything to do with her, etc. You get the picture. I did not find out about this exchange until after the fact – one or two days after it happened. To her credit, my sister is the one who told me what happened, to which I had a minor meltdown on how this would negatively impact me and my relationship with my son.

As a side note, my sister had a similar experience a week later with my cousin (also a Trump fan). This time, however, my cousin hung up the phone on my sister. Boundaries are not big with my sister. We haven’t heard from Pat since, except for a text that merely read Merry Christmas.

I texted my son after a day or two and said that I hadn’t known anything about the situation and didn’t want to get in the middle. I did explain that his aunt loved him and was only trying to understand him. I also explained that she was seeing a therapist to help her with some things she’s processing, including working on boundaries! (I suspect I was the catalyst for that!)

Anyway, my son let me know that our relationship would not be impacted. That made me feel a bit better.

Bottom line was my son invited me to his home for Christmas day! Yippee! He extended the invitation to include my sister (I said I couldn’t abandon her) though he wanted to have a discussion with her about his boundaries. My sister didn’t go – she had previous plans for a pot luck dinner at the Church for people who didn’t have family in town.

I wound up spending five hours with my son and his wife. It was sublime! Yes, we did discuss the “thing” with my sister, but that did not drive the conversation for the whole day. I got all caught up on family goings on. It was very low key and a lot of fun.

I do not understand the severing ties over politics. I have always said Trump is very polarizing – you either love him or hate him. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground. That being said, however, family is family! You only get one! I refuse to let “that man” interfere with mine.

I do not understand how/why my son supports Trump. But, I don’t need to. As long as he can love and respect me just for being me, I can do the same for him. I always told him I would love him no matter what he did. He asked me once “what if I robbed a store or killed someone?” I told him I’d be the one to turn him in to police but that I would still love him and stand by him.

I don’t have to agree with him and his beliefs to love him. He’s my son – he’s part of me and always will be. I can be confused by what he does or what he thinks while still loving him and being open to him.

That all being said, I still plan to resist for the next four years. I still plan to work like hell to get Democrats elected during the mid-terms in 2026 – it’s not too early to think about that!

In short, love your family. Don’t worry whether they have the same beliefs you do. Love them and accept them just as you want them to love and accept you! Life is too short!

Now it’s time to get to work!!

PS I can’t swear I’ll be here more often, though I suspect I will. But, I can promise to try to stay in touch more often. I think we’ll have plenty to talk about – starting with Elon Musk!! EEEWWWW! Don’t get me started!