Dinah’s Chat About Dysfunctional Family Bingo -Day 17/30

On By dinahIn #NanoPoblano2023, coffee chat, Family, friends, self care
Photo by Don (c)



Can you feel it? It’s in the air. The HoliDAZE are coming! I decided to write about this earlier than usual because I wanted to be able to share author Martha Beck’s ingenious holiday coping game in time for Thanksgiving. And I want to be sure to stipulate that this is 100% her original creation. I’m just sharing it because I think it’s hysterically funny and useful.

Many of us know that there’s a huge difference between the holidays we see on TV and the HoliDAZE that many of us actually experience.

Few of us have ever experienced the Hallmark movie version of the holidays. I’ve evolved from feeling like a holiday failure because I was sure that our dysfunction was our isolated problem/experience….to sensing that weirdness around the HoliDAZE is probably the norm rather than the exception.

My husband and I don’t do the large gathering thing anymore. We’ve lost too many members. It doesn’t make sense anymore. So our holidays are pretty quiet.

But there was an extended period of time where we were juggling splitting our time between his side and my side and trying to fit everyone in so nobody felt neglected…. And trying to keep our cool when the more challenging members did their predictable….nonsense.

If my husband and I had had this game… And if we had had another couple who were also playing it at their family gathering… We would have had so much fun! The holidays would have been something to look forward to rather than dread…

As you go into the HoliDAZE, know that you are not alone… the stress is real for everyone. And the most important thing is to take really good care of yourself…Be gentle with yourself. Try and rest. Release the need to keep up, to overspend, and to choreograph Hallmark moments. Instead, try to just love yourself and those around you and try to enjoy the little things….they are, after all, the things you’ll look back on the most. And your kids will remember experiences more than anything…they’ll remember drinking hot chocolate, playing games as a family, or cuddling while watching movies.

I’m sharing screenshots of Dysfunctional Family Bingo so that you can make your own scorecards. It’s really very simple.




You can see Martha Beck’s blog post about Dysfunctional Family Bingo Here

Wishing you a peaceful and low stress holiday season!

I’m glad you’re here💜

This post is part of the November Nanopoblano challenge. A group of us committed to writing a blog post every day for the month of November. Please visit the blogs of my other Nanopoblano cheer pepper friends HERE

The Weekend Coffee Chat is hosted by Natalie the Explorer and you can find more chats Here

18 thoughts on “Dinah’s Chat About Dysfunctional Family Bingo -Day 17/30”

    1. Glad it gave you a laugh. Martha Beck is a genius!
      BTW I tried visiting your blog but it said it didn’t exist or something…Any suggestions on finding your blog?
      Thanks for visiting 💜

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  4. Hi Dinah – this was fun.
    We don’t have a Hallmark family either, but we do have some who are very cool and we look forward to seeing them each year. The others? Well, we just leave them undisturbed and life goes on. I suspect they think we’re kinda weird too.
    If we did the Bingo game with the group we see each year, that would get a lot of laughs but mostly as some would game the system by coming up with statements that ping as many boxes as possible – and we’d all laugh.
    As last year, this year presents even more split family time, some aggravated by just too many time zones involved.
    We have all kinds of opinions involved and yes – global whining remains a huge problem that our vegans just need to put on a few pounds and get over themselves.
    I hope you guys have a great thanksgiving in some form, quiet maybe, but memorable and worth being thankful for.
    Blessings.

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    1. Hey Gary
      Sorry. My reply is late because of the holiday.
      The goal with dysfunctional family bingo is to play with friends going to different houses. You each create your own bingo cards based on past experiences and then play on the honor system…. You then update each other via text. The first to get bingo gets taken to lunch by the other friend(s).
      Have a great week 💜

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    1. Isn’t it funny? I wish I’d known about it when I was still doing family gatherings. Those days are gone for me. But, as you said, you’ll be ready for some fun next time you have a family gathering. I hope it makes next year’s get togethers even better!!!💜💜

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