Ah, the holidays. Family, food, festivities ... And of course, for some people, holidays are about trying to put the "fun" in dysfunctional. So what are you bracing yourself for?
Screaming match with that crazy uncle who still won't stop forwarding all those "Obama's a scary socialist Kenyan Muslim" emails?
Defending yourself against your mother's complaints that you don't visit enough?
Revisiting your childhood with some good old-fashioned fights with your siblings? (Moooo-ooom, he took my drumstick!)
Maybe you'll be finding a polite way to feed grandma's "signature dish" to the dog.
Perhaps you're just praying for patience to deal with those in-laws you can't stand.
Delayed flights. Bumper-to-bumper traffic. Kids fighting in the back seat. Burnt turkey. Forget the well wishes and recipe exchanges; let's dish the dirt. What are your worst holiday stories? What fills you with dread now that the holiday season is upon us?
The original version of this story was first published in 2011 and again in 2012, when I worked for Daily Kos the first time around as an associate editor. Returning to Daily Kos as chief content officer a year ago means the opportunity to once again run this not-quite-a-classic. Sure, the Obama joke is a tad outdated, but right-wing conspiracy theories never really go away, do they?