This time of year can be really, really stressful. The stress of shopping and cooking and entertaining and the in-laws! AHHH! For many, a quiet holiday with a pet is much preferred over a tense, awkward soiree (or several) with the in-laws. Don’t believe me? A Christmas survey conducted by trustedhousesitters.com clued us in that 79 percent of expats would rather celebrate Christmas with their pets as opposed to their in-laws. Yikes! Are you part of that statistic?
READ ON!
The survey, run by TrustedHousesitters.com, polled its members to get the facts about their holiday festivities and the results might actually surprise you. We’ve all heard the bad in-laws stories — clashing personalities, weird habits and plain out rudeness, but is it really that bad? Apparently it is — making many of us want to spend the holidays with our furry family members instead!
In France specifically, where many Trusted Housesitters’ members live, the study concluded that up to 94 percent of expats prefer their pet’s company over their in-laws’ this time of year. Maybe those French really are rude after all? And what about in Spain?
A whopping 100 percent of expats in Spain would also choose their pets over the in-laws!
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Sure, it’s only natural that families will sometimes be at each other’s throats especially with mounting stress this time of year and different cultures coming together. But those numbers seem reallllly high. Do we really hate our in-laws? I guess I really lucked out in that department!
More stats from the survey:
72% of expats who took part in the study revealed that they would be buying a Christmas present for their pets and almost half of those surveyed (43%) said that they would be cooking a special Christmas dinner for their pets. Typical spend on presents put it above the cost of the average stocking filler with 82% spending up to GBP15 on their pet’s Christmas presents, while almost 8% will spend over 50GBP.
So what the heck does this mean? That having foreign in-laws majorly sucks or that we really just love our pets?? And can’t we enjoy our pets and in-laws together?
LOL – this is exactly what I did. My boyfriend’s parents don’t like me and spent over a year making sure that this was 100% clear. So I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with our dogs and cats and it was fantastic!
For the first time, I felt welcomed, happy, and relaxed. Looks like a tradition has formed!
Aww, why don’t they like you? Hopefully that will turn around in 2013. Happy New Year!
It is nothing against my in-laws I would just rather do everything with my dogs 🙂
I can understand that. My dog is everything to me too. Happy New Year!
As I sit here in the guest room of my in-laws house, I can say that my answer would be the pets! Hope they don’t read this.
Great post
Thank you and happy New Year! Hope the in-law situation looks up for you in 2013!
Hi Terry,I am also an American/Turkish bride. I am originally from New Mexico/Texas, but clnuertry live in Arizona with my Turkish husband. We were married last summer in Ankara. We also just returned from Turkey a couple of days ago. We visit Turkey every year to catch up with friends & family. Anywho, I totally understand the language challenge, I have been attempting to learn Turkish, myself. I have 2 Turkish lessons/series that have been very helpful. One is from Pimsleur and the 2nd is from the Turkish govt. which also includes a booklet. I would be more than happy to share these with you by email, if you are interested? Good Luck on your adventure :*)!