Disney's Holiday Relationship Advice

I received some very helpful advice in the form of my weekly Disney e-newsletter today, that in the spirit of giving, I just had to share with all of you. At Disney Family.com, this holiday tip was titled "Give your relationship a holiday gift." The article was all about how to manage your relationship with your significant other during the stressful holiday season. 

So here is the advice offered by Disney's Los Angeles Relationship Expert (yes, that was her title, I kid you not). 

"We women have a very specific vision about things we're invested in; gifts, decorations or the way to set a table. But we rarely want to take the time to be that specific with our partners. We want them to be psychic."

Kaiser says that leaves us with three choices:

• Let it go and allow him to do it his way.
• Give specific detailed instructions and relax. If it's not perfect, deal with it.
• Do it yourself. But if you choose this option, don't complain that it's all on your shoulders.

Cricket, cricket. Don't quite know what to think about that do you? I know, that advice stopped in my tracks as well. Let's start with the first point of advice. 

If I let it go, not only would it not get done his way, it wouldn't get done at all. I could illustrate this point by telling a story here about a Thanksgiving Turkey I once let one of my husbands be responsible for ordering, but that story ends with a rotisserie chicken from a 24-hour grocery store. Next point!

Give specific detailed instructions then relax . . . Ok, I could get on board with this. But halfway through the detailed instructions, I'm interrupted with suggestions for how to do it differently, then comes some backtracking over the first several steps, then confusion, frustration, a look of panic on his face . . . "Where do I find the eggs again? I think you're out of eggs. Are you sure we have eggs?" Oh, just forget it!

And finally our last sage nugget of advice, "Do it yourself but don't complain." I call this the Joan of Ark Syndrome. 

What good is doing everything yourself if you can't complain about it. I mean, it just wouldn't be a family gathering around Casa NativeMom without a few complaints. In fact, if I didn't complain or at least utter some sarcastic remarks, my family would think I'd been replaced by a Stepford Wife.

By the way, Joan of Ark was burned at the stake at age 19. I will not go quietly!

Hey Disney, if you're looking for a real relationship expert, stay out of L.A.!