Coping with repeated stories; help please over Xmas!

[InvisibleLlama]

So, none of this is the end of the world, but with ageing relatives, I seem to have heard the same (non-dramatic - think the wrong type of marmalade) stories over and over for the last 15 years. Please help me cope with these as I realise it's reasonable that this occurs, but it's more accentuated at Christmas with longer stays and I need coping mechanisms!!

Draw up a bingo card? Your choice of either turning it into a drinking game - one drink for every repeat story noted or prize for whoever gets a line / full house first. I vote for the drink option

My FIL is the loveliest man ever, and I truly mean that however, get a few sherries in him and he turns into Uncle Albert from Only Fools & Horses!

“”During the war..........” fuck me I’ve heard his tales a million times! [santa]

Start the bingo game and accept that in time you will be the constant story teller.

Yep, I mentally set up in-laws bingo. I love them so much but it’s very difficult to feign interest in something you’ve heard eighty times already!

Yes we have MIL Bingo. Love her to death but I could use her stories as a specialised subject on Mastermind.

It's the same here. Stories we've hear a gazillion times. My Dad always starts with "Did I ever tell you the time that....." and we all chorus "Yes, loads of times"....and then he tells it again anyway!!!!

My nana is dead I'd love to hear her stories again xx

Just going to say that there will be a time that you'll give anything to hear those stories again. But you can't because the person who tells them is dead.

I realise it's annoying as fuck though to listen to the same old boring tales. Not sure what to say. I think you'll just have to suck it up. Sorry I can't be more help.

I'm with you @InvisibleLlama , I go to my happy place when they start... and I've only been hearing them for 8 years.

I think every family dynamic is different and my family tends to not dwell on the past/retell stories etc (don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but it's what I'm used to). Where as the in laws have set stories for each family occasion, including the video/photos to go along with them (helpfully pre-prepared for our viewing pleasure).

In my case I find it easy to just have to plaster on a smile and make the right noises at the right time to get through and maybe suggest a nice walk when they have finished to get a breather from it! But I'm a grumpy cow and find family gatherings difficult in general.

I have the same with my dad, but he’s got memory problems. I will even hear the same story in the same conversation.

I am trying to keep smiling, not snap and say I’ve heard it before, and sometimes make a joke like ‘oh if I had a pound every time I heard this story’. Turn it into a drinking game with a partner in crime too 😂

If I can't suck it up I exclaim enthusiastically 'ooh I remember you telling me all about this, unbelievable wasn't it! Sheesh those marmalade varieties. Have you tried any other jams lately?' Just to break it up a bit...

Omg ....if I could count the number of times we sat and discussed whether lidls is better than aldi's or Tesco or Sainsbury's etc etc then I would have a very high number...this was my parents, my gps, my aunt.....now we bring out the board games after dinner!!

oh god yes and also the reminiscing designed to exclude me as I have no idea what they are talking about and if i tell a similar anecdote it is ignored.

My personal worst offender at this also spits when she speaks, so I'm bored and wet (not in a sexual sense)!

I have to try not to wipe my face too obviously

I visit my 91 yo Grandmother every fortnight. She tells me the same stories every visit, sometimes several times an hour. Just nod and smile and inwardly feel grateful that you have an active mind and body. Yes she is coming on Christmas Day but there will be 12 of us so she can spread her stories round!

I get pissed. It numbs the deadly boredom of the same story every year.

We have relatives coming to visit on Boxing Day and one of them has a neurological condition so tells the same stories over and over but also tells us about events from the last as if they've happened very recently.

They were here last weekend for lunch and I got to hear all about how "Hooman and Mr Hooman have had the baby, lovely little boy" followed by all the details of my newborn DS who is now almost 10yo. I also had to listen to the sad news that Relative-Dog had been knocked down by a van and killed (six years ago). He's very excited for our wedding (fourteen years ago). He is also sometimes under the impression that Mr Hooman is actually FIL and that our youngest DC is Mr Hooman (40 years ago!), when youngest DC calls me mummy he gets a little bit scandalised that FIL has a woman on the side and then tells me "you're nicer than his wife" 😁

Best way to get through it is to nod, smile, and hit the gin at every opportunity.

We've got MIL coming, she loves to repeat stories and after having a TIA this year, from which she never recovered her full facilities, it's going to be worse than ever.
However H will be here the whole time so I can slope off to let them have mother & son time, I'm just so damn thoughtful.

We have nana bingo, but instead of telling us stories it's asking us questions. We (Me, DH, DS) go round to my parents for tea each week and my nana comes along as well. She always asks the same questions, not every week but seems to rotate them round every few weeks. Things like is have you see your friend M lately (used to live next door to her); has DH seen his dad lately; when are parents going away on holiday; when do they get back; where does DSis live again; when is cousin A visiting again; will DS go straight to bed when you get home, or will he be having some milk first (as we sit there with him in his PJs drinking his milk); is DS walking yet...

Glad it's not just here then! Smile and nod, smile and nod...