Thanksgiving and how many of these people do I want in my group?

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I'm sure nobody will be reading this until the day after Thanksgiving, so happy leftover day.  I hope you aren't standing in some stupid line to buy things you don't really need.  Spend your money wisely! 

We had 18 people over.  It was supposed to be 19 but one called up and said she wasn't feeling well.  No problem, I'm not upset.  Sort of relieved actually.  I don't mind having friends who are needy but when I've got a crowd around I don't want to have to be distracted by someone sitting around like a worthless lump feeling sorry for themselves.  That person wasn't too sick to come, instead she just wanted us to make such a fuss and say she should come anyway.  No, my response was I'm sorry to hear that.  When I'm in town on Sunday I'll stop by and drop off a plate of food.  That was it, end of conversation. 

We had a great time with the group that came over.  Even oldest daughter was nice and polite and didn't have a gutter mouth.  She and her husband spoke kindly to each other and not one yell or scream at any of their kids...four of my darling grand kids.  OK, not always darling.  I was looking around trying to figure out who in this group would I want in "the group".  I think about this every time we have any kind of family gathering. 

Number 1 in the group.  Younger sister and her husband and son.  Positives: level headed, mechanical, hard working, enjoyable to be around.  They hunt.  Sister has listened and learned about food storage and gardening.  She grows a good sized garden now and buys groceries in bulk.  They now have two shelving units in the garage for food storage.  Negatives: Son has some mental issues that are able to be dealt with now as a young child.  When he grows up he may get out of control and cause major problems for the group.  He needs a tremendous amount of supervision.  Still, they are worth having in the group and having more adults in their immediate circle would ease the burden of the child. 

Number 2 in the group.  Mom.  She's getting older and can't really do a whole lot except she can clean the kitchen!  She will also keep the kids entertained for an hour or two each day. 

Number 3 in group.  Son, daughter-in-law, and two adorable grandsons.  Son is really maturing now that they moved into the bug-out place.  He's actually doing repairs to the place and taking pride in "ownership".  Wait a minute.  I own the place.  OK he's taking pride in it because it's not an apartment and he knows they can live their forever if they choose at a really cheap rate.  He still spends way too much time on video games and TV but if TSHTF and those things weren't available he'd do just fine.  He was also an army grunt for 3 years so he can shoot among other things he was taught. 

Number 4 in group.  Oldest daughter and family.  I still am wrestling with this one.  Today they were well behaved.  Tomorrow they may be screaming at each other and posting lousy remarks about each other over facebook.  While son-in-law is a mechanic, the tension and stress levels they possess are most often OK to be around for a few hours but day after day, week after week, in an already stressful situation is not going to cut it. 

Number 5.  Army daughter?  Here's another one that would do well in the group as being hard workers.  Son-in-law is changing his mind about being a gun free home.  He was a medic in the Navy and a trained firefighter.  But there's usually some conflict between Son, Oldest daughter, and Army daughter.  If they can't get along when times are good will that miraculously change when TSHTF?  Adding stress to the mix isn't going to make them get along.  It will only make things worse.  So how do I choose which of my kids I'd want in the group and which I'd exclude?  Include them all with a strict understanding that they'll be out if the conflicts continue?

Number 6 in group.  The next door neighbors.  The hunt, garden, can, and are just overall nice kind people.  And they own Yip-yip, so since we share the dog we may as well keep them in our group.

Number 7-12  The people I've met by writing this blog.  They are all good people and I'd love to have them as part of our group if things ever went south. 

Only one more month until "the end of the world" according to some.  You know, it's odd that it was all the news could talk about a year ago.  I was expecting shortages of food and such with people starting to panic.  Now you hear nothing about it at all.  Sort of like the Debt ceiling was all over the news and the country was going to fall apart because it needed to be raised.  Nothing has changed yet debt ceiling was never mentioned in the latest presidential election.  Thanksgiving is over.  Is there something simmering between now and the end of the year that will boil over?   Spend a few dollars less on junk from China when buying your Christmas presents.  Spend a few dollars more on your preps.