01.01.70
Q. For our current baby christening, we invited our closest relatives to a home reception after church. A newcomer arrived, saying she was invited by my aunt, and stayed eating and drinking.
There wasn’t particularly room at the table, so dinner had to become a buffet. My grandmother then spilled her dinner on her get-up and our sofa. My aunt said: “You should’ve planned a sit-down dinner! Old people can’t come through be a match for with a buffet!” My brother later told me she’d brought three friends to his corn roast.
She has a wonderful house, but never has her friends there. With baby number two on the way, how do we avoid a repeat of this problem? Most of the one's nearest makes a joke of it.
A. Family humour can be more memorable than perfect dinner parties, but still, there has to be a limit put on Auntie Dearest who likes to “guests” at others’ expense. And, perhaps, these special invitations keep her friends’ connected to her.
Allot her one guest and be clear that there’ll be no room for more at the sit-down dinner she herself recommends.
Source: Guelph Mercury