No matter how much you love your relatives, odds are, they can drive you crazy, especially around the holidays! Like it or not, none of us have
the perfect family! So after your cousin's third inquiry about why you're not married yet, or when your mother-in-law keeps insisting you use her recipe for stuffing (despite the fact that you've told her you're allergic to the main ingredient), take a deep breath and remember the lessons of three classic family films. You may even want to have the DVDs on hand to watch (after all, a screening or two will save you some talking)!
Home Alone
If you've ever felt like an outcast (and let's face it, who hasn't), you'll find a kindred spirit in 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin) in the 1990 hit Home Alone. After an ugly accident turned fight, Kevin goes to bed and wishes that his family would disappear so that he can do whatever he wants. Then, following a riotous rush to make their flight to France the next day, his family accidentally leaves him behind. At first, this is Kevin's dream come true and he's content to cause trouble, getting into anything and everything he's been forbidden to do. But once the loneliness settles in -- and two crazy crooks (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) try to rob what they presume to be an empty house -- Kevin starts to see the importance of family.
A heartwarming holiday tale about the complicated love inherent in every family, Home Alone is the perfect cross-generational movie for holiday laughs.
Meet The Parents
Think your in-laws are tough customers? Rest assured that the family of Greg Focker's future fiancée Pam (played by Ben Stiller and Teri Polo respectively) will make you realize your visits home are a walk in the park!
When Greg accompanies Pam to her parents' house for her sister's wedding, he's on a mission to please -- and gain her father's approval for marriage. What he doesn't know is that Dad (Jack Byrnes, played by an intimidating Robert De Niro) is a former CIA psychological profiler, convinced that Greg is a dishonest, unintelligent, clumsy idiot.
After a series of mishaps (from accidentally smashing the urn containing grandma's ashes to inadvertently losing the beloved family cat), Greg needs a miracle to salvage his image. Will he get it? And if he does, will it even make a difference?
If you're struggling with your family or your in-laws, take heart. Though they may give you a hard time, it's unlikely they'll force you into taking a polygraph (lie detector test) or set up surveillance in the room where you sleep!
On Golden Pond
Okay, so we all revert to childish behavior sometimes - especially around our parents. The triple Oscar winning film, On Golden Pond, reminds us that whether you're 25 or 65, you can end up acting like you're 12 as soon as you open the front door of your childhood home.
Legendary actors Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn (Norman and Ethel Thayer -- each won their final Oscars for their performances) are the epitome of lifelong soulmates, still crazy about each other even as they deal with the indignities of aging. Their daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda), about to marry again and become a step-mother, still struggles with her lifelong resentment towards her father, which Fonda says mirrored her real life relationship with the star.
If your parents have an enormously symbiotic relationship and you've always felt left out, you and one of your parents have never quite been able to bond, or you're the new person in a family, trying to fit in, you may turn off your DVD player a bit wiser and teary-eyed. And no matter how turbulent your familial relationships may be, this film is sure to open your heart to the possibilities of change.
Trying to change things with your family - or just plain fed up? Talk about it and see what the psychic experts have to say about your situation!