Unfiltered Thoughts: Small House and the Holidays

I have a really small place, at least by some standards. Not NYC standards. Not San Francisco standards. But by middle-America standards. It's 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, and less than 900 square feet. It often feels like My Better Half and I are tripping over each other, and it certainly isn't big enough for all of our crap.

So now that summer's over, I was thinking about fall and the upcoming holidays, and was getting a wee bit anxious about My Better Half's family coming to visit. There will be 9 adults, 2 children, 1 baby, and 4 dogs. All in my less-than-900-square-feet place. My first thought was Where the hell are all these people going to sit?! I only have seating for 6*. We need to go get some chairs! Maybe people will stand all day. Because nothing sounds better than having 9 adults, 2 kids, and 4 dogs tripping over my newly crawling infant...

But then I quickly replaced that thought with: Wait a minute. A better strategy is to take *away* some seating, thereby encouraging folks to go hang out somewhere else.

*Unless you count tiny IKEA stools, in which case I can accommodate 10. Because everyone wants to sit on a hard wooden surface with no back support all day long.