Gotta love the Holidays

We have managed to survive yet another holiday season. It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. After the Thanksgiving drama, Christmas and New Years went fairly smoothly.

Christmas at the Nephew's house went very well, and every one was full as a tick by 7pm. Granted, my niece and I did most of the cooking, but it was fun and everything turned out good. No one really got snippy with anyone else so the mood was good. My brother-in-law still wasn't feeling well, so they didn't stay long, but at least we got to visit for a little bit before he had to leave.

The Christmas gifts were about as expected. I think my Mother-in-law just gathered things from around the house to give every one. She has lots of stuff that she bought on sale over the last 40 years to give as wedding and birthday gifts that she digs through as needed. So my 17 year old daughter got a Barbie and I got yet another fleece throw blanket. I think she bought a single package of men's socks and gave each male member of the family 1 pair. She also gave each of us an envelope with cash in it. That was probably the best thing to do. She is getting old and her health is starting to go south, so she really didn't need to be out shopping anyway. And cash is always a useful gift.

New Years started, for us anyway, on Tuesday. That was the day that our friends from Hardy and our friends from Jacksonville arrived. We did our simple gift exchange with each other, then we threw a little baby shower for our friend's daughter. It wasn't really anything much, just some basic things like clothes and bottles and that sort of thing. Wednesday afternoon, us Moms went to the local thrift store and found tons of really nice baby things for next to nothing. I hope this baby turns out to be a girl. LOL! Although, I did find a couple of cute boy outfits and the other two moms got some really cute overalls that could go either way. But most of the stuff we got was frilly little dresses. I tried to stick with every day clothes, like onesies and t-shirts, I even found a couple of diaper covers that I think might be water proof. Those will really come in handy.

New Years Eve night brought my daughter's boyfriend to the house. It is still a little awkward having him around. This is her first real boyfriend and she is still a little shy of the concept I think. The Dads had a good time during the Inquisition. It was funny to watch the other 2 Dads quizing him over his future plans, if his intentions were honorable to my daughter, whether or not he believes in werewolves, etc. He managed to blow it all off with no problem. My daughter was mortified. I think she was afraid they would scare him off. He stayed relaxed and even humored Dennis in his werewolf stories. We had to run him off around 1:30 so we could all go to bed.

New Year's Day was more relaxed. I made omelettes as people got up. Then we played a couple of games and just visited. Our Hardy friends had to leave because she had to work this morning and their kids had to go to school. Our Jacksonville friends left too because my husband has to work today. We ran the boyfriend (yes, he came back) off around 8pm and we finally had the house to ourselves again.

Now all we have to worry about is geting the laundry and dishes caught back up and getting ready for the kids to go back to school on Monday.

While the holiday season is nice and everything, I am glad it is over. I will be ready for company again by the time spring break rolls around, but for now, I just want my house back.

Experimental Holiday

Well, Thanksgiving is finally over, for which I am truly thankful, and now it is on to thinking about Christmas.

This year, it appears, will be something of an experiment with my husband's family. The annual sniping and bickering was more intense than normal that, in turn, caused a rather explosive response. Feelings were injured and regrettable words were spoken. Fortunately, we were not there to witness the event, so we have been able to distance ourselves from the fray. But it threatened to pull the family apart completely.

My husband's nephew finally had enough. He declared that Christmas would be at his house this year, that he would do the cooking, and that everyone would have a good time, or else. I am so very proud of him for that. He has been the only one willing to take a stand to keep the family from falling apart. The other family members I have talked to since the "announcement" are taking a wait and see approach. They don't think he will be able to pull it off. I, on the other hand, think it is wonderful. And I volunteered to help him with the preparations. Not only because he really has no idea what all it will involve, but he has no clue how to cook. At least not an entire meal for 14 people.

I will do my dead level best to make sure that he has a fair chance to pull this fractured family back together. As much as these folks literally make me crazy, I love them all very much. And all of the constant backbiting and petty remarks should be put behind us.

It gives me hope that maybe the next generation can do something good.

Have you ever...

Have you ever had a day that just felt wrong? You know the kind, where everything seems to be about half a bubble off plumb? Well, that is today. Just sitting around waiting for the ax to fall.

Not being able to sleep because of the stress, everything mechanical in the house acting just a little bit weird, the power twitching on and off this morning...it is gonna be an interesting day.

My husband is spending his time this morning looking thru job listings. Again. I will probably dig thru corners in the house to see if we have anything that we can sell. Hopefully the kids will do their chores this afternoon without griping too much about it. I might even get them to clean out their closets in the search of fodder to sell.

I need to find some big boxes. There isn't really any reason not to go ahead and pack some of this stuff up. Even if we do find a job and can stay, I have stuff in my cabinets that hasn't seen daylight in a couple of years at least. I think I will have another "if I haven't touched it in six months, it goes away" sale. At least that will give me an excuse to get rid of that dollar store skillet my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago.

I hate Christmas

You know, Christmas really, really sucks. There is nothing quite like knowing that whatever you give someone for Christmas will be exactly what they don't want/like/need. So as a nation, we all flood into the shopping malls and MegaMarts, picking up things only to put them back, in a frantic search for the "perfect" gift.

I have decided that there is no "perfect" gift. Inevitably it will be the wrong color/style/size/ brand, break the first time it is used, or just be something that they cannot possibly use. Last year, I gave my husband a foot massager that he had been eyeballing every time we went into the store. He would rub on it, and exclaim over it, and wish they made it in bed size. I bought the last one in town. I couldn't wait for him to open it. It broke the first day. I was devastated. As a companion to the foot massage, I got him another massager that would fit his office chair that had heat and massage. Very nice for about a week until it too stopped working. It was at that point I decided that I would never buy anything that plugs into a wall as a gift again.

I gave my dad a bat house last year. As weird as it was, he liked it. He then proceeded to build himself about 5 more. It seems that the stranger the gift I give my dad, the more he likes it. At least he is kinda fun to buy for.

My kids, or at least my daughter, stress over what to give as gifts too. They never seem to have enough cash at hand to give the things they want to give. So the gifts always seem a bit lame. I remind them that Christmas isn't about the gifts, it is about the giving. They look at me like I have grown an extra head or something.

This year, my daughter, bless her pea pickin' heart, has decided to do artwork for charity. She has some talent for cartooning so she has been drawing anime' like pictures of her friends for a minimal amount of money. She said that every dime of it will be used to buy necessities for the teen shelter in our town. So far, she has collected $9 and has commissions for about $25 more. Somehow, I think I did good with that kid.

Then, of course, there is the whole Family thing to do. If you want to see just how much I am looking forward to that, see the Thanksgiving post. It will be all that and then some. At least this year we have managed to make a deal with almost all of the family members on both sides to not exchange gifts. Except for the kids. That works for me just fine. There is no reason for all of us to spend money we don't have just so we can swap crap. We had a small problem in that I had already bought a gift for my step-mom. My dad bought it from me to give to her. Problem solved. He got a gift to give her that he didn't have to shop for, and I got to give her something that I know she actually will like, even if it didn't have my name on the "from" tag on the box.

All in all, Christmas just sucks. I would much rather stay home, cook a nice meal for my husband and kids, watch a movie, and relax.