People often worry about whether they should (or shouldn’t) bring their significant other to family holiday celebrations, especially Thanksgiving. Sometimes it can almost feel weird if you don’t want to bring your boyfriend, or if you’re single. Here’s why I’d rather bring wine than my boyfriend to dinner whether I’m in a relationship or not.
- Everyone loves wine but everyone might not love my boyfriend. Bringing wine instead of a boyfriend means everyone will obviously approve, and I won’t have to worry about whether his sense of humor will upset sensitive family members or whether or not my dad will like him.
- Wine is dependable. I know my bottle of wine will be right by my side the entire dinner and won’t ditch last minute either. Wine will be there for the entire holiday, no questions asked, whereas who knows about a boyfriend? I need someone (or something) I can truly count on and wine fits the bill.
- Wine will make me happy. There won’t be any arguments or awkward conversations involving wine, but family holidays are a breeding ground for fighting in a relationship. Being around your significant other’s family can cause anyone to snap and lash out at the person they love but at least if I bring wine, I know that won’t happen. Wine is guaranteed to keep me in a cheerful mood.
- Wine makes any uncomfortable situation less awkward. Although I generally get along with my family pretty well, there have been times when I’ve gotten in a fight with one of my relatives in the past and have been uncomfortable about seeing them post-argument. My grandma, of course, always thinks I’m too skinny or have been gaining too much weight (I can never win). Wine will make every awkward confrontation significantly less awkward because that’s just what wine does best. It’ll make me less likely to take any opposition from a stubborn family member personally and more likely to laugh it off or ignore it. Wine will basically help me to chill out and enjoy the holiday, whereas a boyfriend might make it a lot harder for me to do just that.
- No one will question my taste in wine. Whether I bring red, white, rose, sweet, dry, bottle or boxed, wine is still wine and I’m almost positive no one will judge me for what kind I bring to Thanksgiving. Even bad wine is still better than no wine. On the other hand, my family may disapprove of my boyfriend for whatever reason, so at least if I bring wine instead of a boyfriend, I won’t have to worry about whether or not everyone approves—they definitely will.
- I won’t have to explain to my family where I bought my wine. If it’s anything like the majority of how people meet in 2017, I might not want to tell my family the story of how I met him. Whether it was on Tinder or drunk in a bar, that’s probably one I’ll want to save for another day (AKA never). No one will ask you where you bought your wine, though, which is just another reason I’d rather bring it than a boyfriend to Thanksgiving.
- I’ll always love wine forever but guys come and go. Family holidays tend to mean a lot of photographs, and if I bring my boyfriend along, he’ll probably make it into at least a few of them. Even if our relationship doesn’t last, the pictures will, which may ruin the memory of that Thanksgiving for me. I’ll always love wine, boyfriend or not, so at least there won’t be any regrets if I choose to bring a bottle over a boyfriend.
- I can never have enough wine but I can’t say the same about guys. Especially if we’re traveling together and live somewhat of a distance from my family, we’ll be forced to spend a good chunk of time together. If this is the first time in the relationship that I’ve traveled with him, I may be in for an unpleasant surprise. Not only is traveling one of those make it or break it moments of a relationship, holidays with family only add to the pressure. With the stress of traffic, holidays, rushing to get places on time, and annoying family members, I might get annoyed having to deal with a boyfriend the entire time, but I definitely won’t get annoyed with having a few bottles of wine in my bag.
- I might not want my boyfriend to see my family’s strange quirks, but wine will make them more laughable and more tolerable. No matter what level of strange they are (and trust me, everyone’s family is some kind of crazy), bringing a boyfriend home for Thanksgiving will probably make me hyper-aware of every flaw and every weird quirk in my family. Wine, on the other hand, will make it easier for me to relax, laugh at the strangeness, and maybe even enjoy it.
