Everyone can claim some dysfunction in their family. Mine is no exception. Trying to put the "fun" in dysfunctional, here's a snippet of a story I call "Happy Family", originally posted here back in May.

I think my grandparents got over part of the shock of me being gay because I was entering into a stable, loving relationship when I came out to them.
The funny thing is, they really did like Lee. They loved him and accepted us totally as a couple. I will be forever grateful for their acceptance and love. They treated Lee exactly the same as Erin's husband, John, and were very, very good to him. Lee, however, was never quite sure what to think of them, but that always amused me.
I really felt for the guy, for here was this pair of staunch conservative Republicans, who were in many ways stuck in the past (oh those polyester golfing pants and those mumus!), and because my grandmother often lacted tact.
Well, that's an understatement. At our first Christmas dinner with Lee joining the family, she served glazed ham, even though I'd told her in advance that Lee didn't eat ham. She made such a fuss out of defrosting leftover Thanksgiving turkey for him, saying in a loud whisper to my fresh-out-of-rehab mother, "Is Lee Jewish?"

Lee had his own bemusement about Gram, however. She liked to get Chinese takeout for New Year's dinner, and for her entree, she always ordered a dish that was a combo of shrimp, beef, pork, and chicken. This Chinese restaurant called it a "Happy Family."
Lee was so tickled by this -- the opinionated, tactless matriarch of a totally dysfunctional family, obtaining her Happy Family the only way she knew how.