Every year it is the same thing. I would love to say that once the lesson is learned, people do not repeat the mistake, but that just isn’t so. This is about my cousin. It drives me crazy that everyone in my family knows that he has a gambling problem, yet they continue to give him lottery tickets for Christmas every year.

I asked my mom and she said she had already bought him some. I asked her why she couldn’t find something else for him for Christmas and she laughed at me. She said that he wasn’t any more or less special than all of the other cousins and that this is what we do every year. Then she tried to rationalize the gift by saying, “It’s not like I gave him a subscription to sports betting sites.”

Argh! I hope that he can manage to make it through the holiday without a relapse. Does anyone have an idea? Should I trade him for cash? Is that like a gamble anyway? Family can be exhausting, huh?

On other topics, I am looking forward to the Christmas season and excited to find the perfect gift for my family members. Unlike some people who I know and love, I do not buy everyone impersonal lottery tickets and let it go from there.

Last week Anne-Marie told my aunt that she wanted some toys from a certain catalog. She was told to go ahead and circle the items so that people could look and see what she wanted. I guess she got carried away. I looked in the catalog today and almost every single toy was circled. That is what you get for not being more specific with a 6 year old I guess!