Yesterday was our family Christmas celebration for my mom's side of the family. Grandma hosts and provides one meat, everyone else brings extra meats, side dishes, desserts etc. We have lunch, get the dishes cleaned up and then we open gifts.
Everything was going fine until after the gift opening. The same thing happens every year. This is a large bunch of people (yesterday we had 21 for lunch, which is small from past years). After the gift opening, several of the aunts, uncles and cousins disappear into the basement for card playing. Cards are played in groups of four. If there are extra people but not enough to make even groups of four, then people have to take turns watching vs. playing.
Every year, the same group plays cards and drinks and the rest stay upstairs and visit. I know that I would like to play, along with my grandmother and some of my other aunts. This year, it got really bad when one of my aunts went downstairs to get a beverage and was asked by the card players if dinner leftovers had been heated up yet. To her credit, she didn't reply and when it was time for dinner, we set out all the leftover food and let everyone heat their plates in the micro if they so desired.
To me, the whole situation seems exclusionary. As a grandchild (the eldest, but still a grandchild), I just don't know what to say or do in this situation. No one outside of the "cool kids" is asked if we want to play, which could easily be accommodated with extra tables and chairs that are already set up. We also might like to visit with some of these folks who we don't get to see very often and then only see for the time it takes to eat lunch.
What to do, what to do???