It's getting to be that time of year with a lot of family gatherings. There's Halloween (yes, my relatives gather on Halloween ), Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all in a row. It's inevitable that there will be the usual loaner relatives that I've never met which stop by every few decades.

These loaners do one of the most annoying things I can think of. They say things like "Oh, you have your grandfather's chin" or "You have your mother's eyes". It's like they are playing Mr. Potato Head; trying to assemble my face by grabbing other features from around the room.

I realize they are trying to make conversation. But the annoying part is that its not so much making conversation with me as it is making conversation about me right infront of my face. Its not like I go around pretending that they are Frankenstein's monster. "Oh, you have your mother's bad knee". "You have your father's cranium". I think that "How's it going?" works much better.