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Post-holiday check-in
Dec. 26th, 2010 11:17 pmHi hi! I am still at my parents' house, and by tomorrow will potentially be snowed in, if the weathermen can be believed. Though, considering how often they are wrong under normal circumstances, you know it's bad when even they admit they have no idea what's going on. (FYI, "The computer models may be flawed" is meteorologist for "We don't know what the hell is going on, but we're stocking up on canned goods.")
Anyway, Christmas was, overall, pretty good. Took me almost 5 hours to get home, and my mom and I actually went out shopping the morning of Christmas Eve because I was too lazy to go out and get gift cards for my cousins. :) We also stopped in PetSmart to buy cat toys (Patches, naturally, is way more interested in the plastic bag it came in than the toy itself) and to torture ourselves with how cute and sad the kitties there are.
My mom had been complaining about having to go to my aunt and uncle's for Christmas Eve this year, because they live an hour away and my parents have been going out there almost every weekend for Sunday dinners for over 20 years, and yet they act like it is SUCH a hardship to come to our house ONCE A YEAR for Christmas. My aunt is always asking to have it at their house, so this year, my mother reluctantly gave in, but sometime in the early afternoon, she realized how nice it was not to have to cook anything. :) Plus, my cousin got engaged last week, and so the future in-laws were also in attendance. It was our first time meeting them, and I actually really like them, even if our combined dietary requirements make meal planning into a bit of an obstacle (there's me with the Crohn's, my cousin doesn't eat cheese or red meat, my uncle doesn't eat fish, and the new fiancee and her father both have Celiac's).
My Christmas gifts went over pretty well, which always makes me happy. I'm one of those people who loves to get the perfect gift for everyone, which is why I spend so much time agonizing over it and hate to fall back on gift cards (even though I always end up getting them for a few people anyway). Object lesson in why I try to avoid such things: this year, my one aunt and I got each other Barnes and Noble gift cards for the exact same amount. It just seems kinda silly, you know?
As for me, I got mostly money and gift cards, clothes (from my fashion-conscious aunt who loves to buy me clothes because she wanted a girl to dress up but only had boys), and a box of groceries from my parents, lol.
For Christmas Day dinner, we went to my OTHER aunt's house, which was a much smaller gathering (my mom's side of the family is pathetically small), so most of the excitement came from my cousin's new dog (a little yippy thing that is cuter than the last one, but still kinda looks like a rat), who is violently opposed to sharing a house with Maude the Devil Cat (you can't really blame him, though, you know? No one wants to live with Maude) and makes his displeasure widely known.
We managed to get rid of my grandmother a full day early, because the weather reports scared her (she's afraid of snow, even though she doesn't have to drive in it), which made things much more peaceful around here, lol. My mother still went on at length about how self-centered and kind of crazy she is, but that's to be expected. Latest evidence: her response to finding out after the fact that I drove home instead of taking the bus was, "Oh, thank God you didn't tell me, otherwise I'd have been worried sick!" BECAUSE I DROVE MY CAR. Which, incidentally, I do pretty often, and have been since the age of 17. And yet, a year and a half later, she is STILL oblivious to the fact that I have a chronic illness, even though I don't even bother to hide it anymore. Still no progress on getting her to declutter her house, despite several pointed remarks about how she needs to clean that shit out.
I expect there to be snow shoveling in my future, as well as hopefully seeing Megan. Tuesday I drive back to DC, with my parents in tow, even though I am kicking them out on Wednesday because Kelly is coming to visit. IDK, I don't think it's worth it to come down for 24 hours, especially since I've just seen them for the last five days and the traffic will be terrible. But hey, maybe I can get them to vacuum the inevitable mess Chelsea will have left for me?
Anyway, Christmas was, overall, pretty good. Took me almost 5 hours to get home, and my mom and I actually went out shopping the morning of Christmas Eve because I was too lazy to go out and get gift cards for my cousins. :) We also stopped in PetSmart to buy cat toys (Patches, naturally, is way more interested in the plastic bag it came in than the toy itself) and to torture ourselves with how cute and sad the kitties there are.
My mom had been complaining about having to go to my aunt and uncle's for Christmas Eve this year, because they live an hour away and my parents have been going out there almost every weekend for Sunday dinners for over 20 years, and yet they act like it is SUCH a hardship to come to our house ONCE A YEAR for Christmas. My aunt is always asking to have it at their house, so this year, my mother reluctantly gave in, but sometime in the early afternoon, she realized how nice it was not to have to cook anything. :) Plus, my cousin got engaged last week, and so the future in-laws were also in attendance. It was our first time meeting them, and I actually really like them, even if our combined dietary requirements make meal planning into a bit of an obstacle (there's me with the Crohn's, my cousin doesn't eat cheese or red meat, my uncle doesn't eat fish, and the new fiancee and her father both have Celiac's).
My Christmas gifts went over pretty well, which always makes me happy. I'm one of those people who loves to get the perfect gift for everyone, which is why I spend so much time agonizing over it and hate to fall back on gift cards (even though I always end up getting them for a few people anyway). Object lesson in why I try to avoid such things: this year, my one aunt and I got each other Barnes and Noble gift cards for the exact same amount. It just seems kinda silly, you know?
As for me, I got mostly money and gift cards, clothes (from my fashion-conscious aunt who loves to buy me clothes because she wanted a girl to dress up but only had boys), and a box of groceries from my parents, lol.
For Christmas Day dinner, we went to my OTHER aunt's house, which was a much smaller gathering (my mom's side of the family is pathetically small), so most of the excitement came from my cousin's new dog (a little yippy thing that is cuter than the last one, but still kinda looks like a rat), who is violently opposed to sharing a house with Maude the Devil Cat (you can't really blame him, though, you know? No one wants to live with Maude) and makes his displeasure widely known.
We managed to get rid of my grandmother a full day early, because the weather reports scared her (she's afraid of snow, even though she doesn't have to drive in it), which made things much more peaceful around here, lol. My mother still went on at length about how self-centered and kind of crazy she is, but that's to be expected. Latest evidence: her response to finding out after the fact that I drove home instead of taking the bus was, "Oh, thank God you didn't tell me, otherwise I'd have been worried sick!" BECAUSE I DROVE MY CAR. Which, incidentally, I do pretty often, and have been since the age of 17. And yet, a year and a half later, she is STILL oblivious to the fact that I have a chronic illness, even though I don't even bother to hide it anymore. Still no progress on getting her to declutter her house, despite several pointed remarks about how she needs to clean that shit out.
I expect there to be snow shoveling in my future, as well as hopefully seeing Megan. Tuesday I drive back to DC, with my parents in tow, even though I am kicking them out on Wednesday because Kelly is coming to visit. IDK, I don't think it's worth it to come down for 24 hours, especially since I've just seen them for the last five days and the traffic will be terrible. But hey, maybe I can get them to vacuum the inevitable mess Chelsea will have left for me?
