Try confining Cat to one room with food, litter box and a minimum of things to pee on.

Right there with you on children's table manners - WHY doesn't my darling daughter retain what I try so hard to teach her about not gnawing on a huge chunk of food on her fork? Doesn't she realize how that makes me just want to crawl under the table when MY MOTHER notices and calls her on it? (More nicely than she ever did with me, but come on.) And then DD says in the car later, Mommy, it wasn't a fancy dinner, it was just breakfast! And Husband agreed with her! Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

It's good to get away and so good to come home again! Amazing how much you need for just a few days. But just to go back to bed, and have someone else be in charge, that makes it all worthwhile. I want to be that kind of grandmom someday, the one with the fun house. My mom is way more entertaining now than when I was growing up !

Additional Con: Having to unpack and do laundry when you get home, when all the excitement for the holiday trip has been used up. And trying not to resent other family members for relaxing while you do so, even if they are too young to help.

We do have somebody come in to feed cat, take in mail, etc. I guess spending the night would be the next step although I'm glad to report that the cat "remembered' his litter box this time.
Anne, my issue is that my children, despite years of coaching, seem to be unable to use a knife. They also get bored and put their heads in any available lap midway through dinner. Appalling. I will say that we had a little chat after the first night and things got better thereafter....

It's refreshing to see a long Pro list :-) My kids, also, have table manners issues and the newest thing is actually saying "BOR ----ing..." in musical tones. As you might imagine, this did not go over well, so am hoping to get through that before Christmas gatherings. And another PRO is I just love hanging with my sisters-in-law and my sister and their families!

I agree completely with the pros, except that I am an exceedingly better cook than my mother-in-law. In her 53 years, that is something she has never quite managed to grasp. My husband's younger brother and sister used to cook until they moved out and now she is forced to cook again. The last time we went over for dinner, she burned the roast, using Pampered Chef stoneware!! I usually try to offer enthusiastically to help, just so dinner isn't a total disaster. Happily, they only live 3 blocks away. so we don't ever have to stay over either :D

Cons: I didn't get to go more than 5 miles from home, Sister in law is a bad cook and drank way too much before dinner and I had to finish cooking, and I had to get up in the morning and go to work on black friday instead of rolling over with my husband and daughter and going back to sleep.

Loved this one. Great title. We might lead completely different lives, but as women/mothers/daughters-in-law, we're really all the same.
Keep blogging! Love your sense of humor.