think i may be a bit anti- social me

[cheeryface]

i always seem to want it to be just me,dh and the boys.

whenever there is an outing planned and my parents or brother jump on the bandwagon, i think 'oh no'

my friend is forever asking me to join the girls for a night out, sometimes i do but alot of the time i just feel happier staying home with a book etc.

Ideal xmas day would be to briefly visit mum and brother and then spend the rest of the day just my own little family. of course mum and brother are the exact opposite so, as not to offend, we are all having christmas dinner at mums.

how can i become more sociable ? am i weird??

I totally understand why you'd want to stay in a hotel .... for me it would be about being able to do my own thing, have my own bathroom and so on. It isn't a rejection of their hospitality - it's just that people do things differently and have different feelings on the matter of sharing a living space with others. I'm sure you've thanked them for the invite in any case.

Going back to your original post, if I have some spare time, there's nothing more I enjoy than reading a good book .... why should that be considered an anti-social thing to do ? I actually belong to a small book club which I really enjoy because it's not too frequent, because we all have a common interest (so no small talk) and there is no obligation upon any of us to "have" to attend every meeting. There are plenty of other hobbies which are usually singular activities - why should anyone be made to feel they should apologise for seeking some time to themselves to do things on their own ?

wow catsmother. my sympathies.

i think i would definitely bring a book and go on a couple of long walks on my own. surely they'll understand that you need a bit of space, if the rest of the time you're friendly and pleasant. at worst they'll think of you as eccentric?

see, to me none of you sound antisocial, and I am a very sociable person - but there are limits to how much and how often I will share my personal space.

I LOVE seeing my own extended family. Hated xp's ... because I couldn't escape! We were trapped until someone gave us a lift home! With my own extended family, I will just say to my dad, "I need to go home now, I am tired" - job done - consequently I used to avoid xps family gatherings like the plague.

gawd
i spend on christmas at pil one at my parents!
and its for a week..

luckily, it is de riguer to pick up a book
but yes, would love a christmas on our own
and on the hermit barometer, would come in quite hermitish we both would dh and i

i mean one year with one lot
one year my lot
pita
just big distances so it becomes focus i guess

(My illness comment was a joke by the way - would never do that, and Im sure it will be a great night - it was my idea after all! Pregnancy hormones all over the shop at the moment!)

I am a complete sociaphobe. (((hugs)))

I am a "society in small doses" person too. I hate the fact that DH's parents are always inviting us to go to dinner and stay the night when I am quite happy to go, stay sober and drive the 75 minute trip home, but apparently this is anti-social (despite the fact that we are supposed to be asleep during the part of the visit I am trying to avoid). Likewise, I far prefer having people to Sunday lunch when they then go away at a sensible time, to having them to dinner on a Friday or Saturday, when they inevitably get plastered (DH's fault usually - he does like to be a good host) and don't go home until the early hours, when I am then knackered and feel that the whole following day is going to be ruined by me being knackered and having loads of clearing up to do, unless I stay up even later to sort out the mess, in which case the whole of the next day is lost to sleep and feeling rubbish.

On the Christmas front, this year we will have a small baby and are going to be detatching ourselves a bit from the fray in an attempt to establish a bit of a tradition of staying at home. Fingers crossed!!

We also have Xmas by ourselves and altho' I sometimes worry that ds is missing out somehow, I must admit it's v. relaxing, we just make whatever we fancy for dinner (always v. special, but never turkey), have a walk if it's nice, read by the fire etc.

Our excuse is both sets of rellies are between 400 and 650 miles away and there are lots of them to entertain each other.

me too! I never used to be as bad as i am now-when i was at uni i was always out, but now a good book and early night make me much happier....only problem is dp gets bored staying in......