Christmas was held late this year at my family. And no one outside the family would know that this Christmas was different.

I found out about BPD early last December. And through a whiplash of a year, I got that officially diagnosed in August or September. I also found out that I likely would have had NPD diagnosed as little as 5 years ago.

My family has never been big on talking about emotions, showing empathy, showing compassion, or talking about mental health issues.

But this Christmas my youngest sister was like "I heard you were in therapy. So I got you a weighted blanket as a comfort thing."

Last year I would have been teased.

My other younger sister also went into stories about all the little things that will make her cry.  My brother-in-law confirmed.

My mother was the only one to inject any negativity "why are you crying over things like that?" But that didn't stop my sister. She kept talking about stuff like that. She even emphasized something at some point with "it's because we're all borderlines."

I suspect my younger sister has BPD as well. I think my youngest sister has DPD. I think my mother has BPD and NPD.

Ever since I got this diagnosed and realized how much these things have derailed my life the last decade, I've been trying to seed conversations with my family about it. It's tough because we've never done this before. Sometimes the conversations have ended in silence.

But in this past year, I've shared a car ride with my mother in which she has asked what kind of things could be explained by BPD. Her life has definitely been influenced by it in similar ways to mine. My mother has opened up about her struggling with alcoholism. She has expressed anxieties over the last couple months that she'd never share before.

My younger sister would have been shut down by such a comment from my mother before. It didn't stop her this time.

My youngest sister wouldn't have put so much thought into a gift like this before.

The family dynamic is slowly changing. And just having that evidence finally culminate yesterday was the best Christmas present.