What is it that makes you laugh? What is it that makes you cry? I ask because I had a weekend full of both. First let me say, that the past 4 days went by like a flash of light a camera gives when you’re least expecting it. It also left me feeling the same way that camera flash does, blinking a lot and wondering if you’re missing something good while trying to get your sight back.
Thursday was Thanksgiving and we hosted my mom’s side of the family (the Williams). I baked my first Turkey and it was fantastic. The secret is to wrap it bacon. (See previous post to read about my feelings on bacon.) Everyone showed up except for one cousin and her husband, but she’s expecting child number 2 and wasn’t feeling well so I’ll excuse her for that reason alone. Everyone brought something good to eat and we decided not to draw names for Christmas but to bring a $10 gift and play a game. Although nothing really funny happened on Thursday, it was a lovely day with great food and good company. After everyone left my husband ran out and rented a couple of movies. He got Toy Story 3 for the kids, but we all sat together and watched it. And this started my crying fest 2010. If you haven’t seen this movie and you have kids, make sure you have tissues nearby cause I haven’t spoken to anyone who has seen it and didn’t cry. I actually wasn’t doing to badly until my son said, “mom, are you crying?” Then I lost it. And he was laughing at me. Sometimes I think Disney films are just mean to parents.
Friday was only my favorite day of the year. My neighbor and I go shopping on this day every year. Now, it is important to lay out some kind of a plan or you can easily get lost in the crowd and not get anything on your list. It’s also important to stay calm, you never know when you might get shot over a 42” flat screen, so be sure to have 911 pre-programmed into your phone, just in case. I have a secret that I will only share with my closest friends and a few family members about my plan and therefore will not be posting it on any blog. But let me just say, we started at 3:00am and were done by 9:30am. We even stopped for a few minutes to eat some breakfast. I got the kids some things on their lists and got myself a pair of boots and a sweater. It was a very productive morning. My husband had to work Friday night so I took the kids to my aunts for a second Thanksgiving dinner (the Lee family). Once again it’s about 30 people and just another good evening of good food and conversation. Nothing exciting happened there either. Although I did have a very interesting conversation with my cousin who is having her first baby and is using a mid-wife. She’s thinking of doing a water birth because "that’s what feels most natural to her". This also means she will be using no pain meds at all. And therefore, I believe she’s crazy. I must say that I am quite surprised that I don’t have some fascinating story about either of my Thanksgiving dinners. Usually someone is arguing over something stupid or one of the kids does something that has us laughing for days, but no such luck this year. I suppose this means that I won’t remember much about Thanksgiving 2010, as I tend to only remember things that are funny or tragic. And although I’m sad nothing funny happened, I am glad nothing tragic happened as that would be, well, tragic.
Saturday was nice because I slept in and then played cards all day. I played Texas Hold’em at the bar at 2:00pm where I met my friends and discussed events that had happened the night before that had a lot to do with me and yet nothing really to do with me at all. I know, that doesn’t make much sense, but nothing with this particular situation makes much since and so I won’t be going into any detail about it. It’s not anything of importance anyway and would probably just bore you. Also, I would have to start at the very beginning and I’m not sure one blog carries enough characters to tell the whole story. Anyway, those same friends, along with a few other friends, then came back to my house for some Tripley and dealer’s choice. Ahhh….the fun begins. We had a fantastic time, except for when my husband got a little upset about the max bet I put on every hand. He’d had a few shots and a few beers by then and wasn’t really thinking about the feelings of others. But he quickly got over it and the fun resumed. One of my friends was telling us how at her Thanksgiving dinner, her family plays this game where they end every sentence with “That’s what she said”. It sounds dumb, but we started doing it while playing cards and it was quite funny indeed. I’m sure it’s even funnier to hear your father using such a term at a family gathering. Anyway, it was a great time and I can’t wait to do it again (that's what she said). The best part is, we still have some Jager left and no one left pissed off!
I got up early Sunday to work on cleaning up the loft. It was a mess, I’m not gonna lie. It is my art studio/spare bedroom and I had a lot of crap just thrown on my drafting table, under my drafting table, on the futon and the floor. It took me about 2 hours to go through everything and get it somewhat cleaned up. I still need some kind of cabinet or something to organize it all, but it’s much better than before. Then I took my daughter to see Tangled. Once again, another Disney movie that makes parents get choked up and has our kids laughing at us. Those big old meanies at Disney! How dare they put some twist into every cartoon that makes a mom feel the need to wipe her eyes with her sleeve. Also, it’s very difficult to watch a 3D movie and cry while wearing those stupid glasses.
When I got home my husband had put together the Christmas tree. Only the lights on the middle of the tree would light up though, so I put new lights on the bottom and top and started hanging the beads. My son helped me from start to end. This got me choked up again. Mostly because he said “mom, do we really need to put these Blue’s Clues and Winnie the Pooh ornaments on the tree, aren’t we a little old for these.” But I also was holding back tears because neither of my kids has ever helped me with all of the Christmas décor before. They usually start and then run off to play something else, somewhere else in the house. But not this year, this year my son helped the whole time without me asking. As a matter of fact, he was asking what he could do next and where to put items that don’t hang from the tree. I loved it and it makes me sad to think that it might not happen again. I really hope he does this with me every year. It really does make great memories. I also really hope he helps me take it all down!
So, in closing for this extremely long blog, I only hope your 4 day Thanksgiving weekend was as joyful as mine. I find myself feeling very thankful and very lucky for everything in my life. I have great friends, a large extended family I enjoy spending time with (even if they aren’t very funny), a great husband who makes me happy and two of the best children anyone can ask for. And those things make the camera flash to the eye well worth the blinking.
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