Well, I had the most laid-back Christmas day ever!
(Bit of backstory: I have four kids, one daughter (with two littlies) and three sons. One son has been estranged for 4 yrs, the other two have vowed to never set foot in my daughter’s house as she is now living with the father of her children. They are still very much ‘talking’, but just shitty because they reckon Baby-Daddy has previously ‘done the dirty’ on my daughter and should Never Be Forgiven. Ever.)
Also, previous Christmases have been tumultuous events, with much drinking and carousing…all forgiven the next day of course, but enormously stressful at the time.
So this year, my daughter and kids and I spent Christmas Eve with my two sons who were Very Well Behaved for once. Christmas Day was just blissfully calm.
(If the truth be told, I sorta missed the Christmas Day Chaos. Might have to manufacture some for next year??)
Damn, where are the “my presents sucked” threads/posts? Those are my favorite part of the holiday. I didn’t get any crap presents so I’m relying on everyone else. I like the diet book one though, HOLY moly.
Every now and then, you encounter someone who makes you realize that with all of your life’s problems, at least you’re not them.
Today it was you, obnoxious lady at the grocery store. First I’m behind her in line, and she and her teenage kids are so annoying that when I spotted a shorter line, I jumped into it, thinking “Double Win!”
Then they get in line behind me. And Annoying Lady takes exception to the fact that none of my vegetables are in plastic bags. Oh the horror, I have six loose potatoes! First she snarks about it to her kids, and then directly confronts me - “How is she (the cashier) supposed to weigh those potatoes when they’re all loose like that? How?” Dumfounded, I replied that I had not seen any plastic bags (true). She starts in again, and I firmly say “I really don’t want to have a conversation with you about this.” She won’t give up though, and finally I muttered 'Gee, I changed lines to get away from you, and you followed me." Yes, I know, bad move on my part. The shopper before me is taking forever, by the way. She calls me a bitch and threatens to “get ugly”. Seriously, this is a middle aged, well-dressed, fully-made-up woman, in a suburban grocery store with her two kids, and she’s acting like she wants a girl brawl in the parking lot? I refuse to reply or look at her after that. Merry Christmas to you too, lady.
Funny thing, when the cashier rang up my order, she had no problem weighing my potatoes. She’s a trained professional, obviously, and no silly potatoes are going to make her break her rhythm!
Another funny thing - plastic grocery bags are being banned in our city starting January 1. Environmental concerns, or something. I’m just doing my part to save the planet a few days early.
HeyHeyPaula: Yeh and look at the stellar example she sets for the teenagers too. They’ll have their hands full taking care of her when she’s an senile old bitch.
I got a baking set (from Mom)! And after trying to prepare so many side dishes ahead of time yesterday, Mom was practically begging for more pots and pans…looks like that’s on the list for next year.
I’m trying to watch Dr. Who on BBC America and the miserable bastards have this enormous countdown timer on the lower right of the screen counting down to the Christmas special. It’s a complete dick move – I despise logo bugs and I can’t even concentrate on the show.
I’m a self-confessed mouthy asshole. I would have raised an eyebrow and said “Get ugly? Lady, you’re already there. Now fuck off and mind your own business.”
Not true. My best fiend sent me a Cajun gift basked from where he lives. My boss gave me a box of chocolates and a bottle of Almond Roca something-or-other to put in coffee or on ice cream. My coworker gave me a box of chocolate-covered fruit.
But the SO didn’t know what I wanted, so she didn’t get me anything.
We don’t argue in my family. There has never been any drama at holidays. Direct confrontation is not our thing. Bitching to other people about family is the way we go.
So. My family here in town consists of my brother, his wife, their two sons and wives and their daughter. (My sister’s family is out of town and this was not their year to come here.) Our tradition is to have the big meal on Christmas Eve with the exchange of presents at my mother’s house. Christmas morning the individual families do their thing and in the afternoon we gather at my mom’s for leftovers and finger foods (veggies and dip, chips and dip, her famous sausage balls, etc.). Last night my brother announced that his family was going to stay home today. Apparently his whole family had decided this. So today it was me and my mother and food for ten. You think he might have told her this before she bought all that food? Well, anyway, now I have a refrigerator full of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, ham, potato salad and slices of four pies (I already ate the sausage balls). No way I can eat all that. I’ll have to pack some off to work tomorrow. Anyway, brother, that was a dick move.
Still trying to decide if my MIL is a bitch, passive-aggressive, or clueless (none of the above are words I would have previously used to describe her) for not putting out the cookies I brought to her house either last night or today, although today she did put out the cupcakes my BILs girlfriend brought. Whatever the thought process, it kind of pissed me off. On top of this were the completely unsubtle hints that I should do the whole effing Christmas Eve dinner next year in which I would be expected to replicate the typical Christmas Eve meal of rural southern Italy. Fortunately, my BIL stepped in to say she should prepare the one dish that no one else knows how to make and the rest of us can do the rest of the dinner next year.
I had cause to interact with a large number of people who were working today (Christmas), and my sympathies and appreciation to all of them.
Oh, rant. OK.
I’ve gotten caught up in the FedEx/UPS meltdown; not the worst thing ever, but I needed delivery on an Amazon item by Tuesday, not because of the Christmas holiday, but for other reasons. And I paid extra for 2-day air to make it happen. Well, it didn’t. Now I need to divert the delivery elsewhere and have just spent a half-hour on UPS’s site to subscribe to a service that allows me to do this, and now have to wait another hour and a half before I actually can effect this transaction. Next I’ll have to figure out whether and how I can get at least a partial refund on the shipping charges. Ha.
That doesn’t count the box of Xmas pressies that my sister sent more than ten days ago by ground and which hasn’t turned up as well. The litter of puppies she said she sent me must be getting pretty hungry and thirsty by now. OK, I don’t really think she sent live puppies, but still.
Hey, I understand the peaky nature of the shipping industry and how difficult a task the Xmas rush is, but FFS don’t promise delivery by a certain date and time if you can’t manage it.
Overall, Christmas has been pretty good, especially when I haven’t particularly been in the mood. Tasty food, and no fights between my husband, daughter, and my mother.
However, my mini-rant for Christmas: Fuckin’ Moffatt. (Doctor Who fans will understand.)
So if someone complains that my brand of English is “neither American nor British” I can tell them I’m aiming for Canadian, eh?
Cousin Standbike* wanted me to pay for the repairs to Grandma’s house before we got the paperwork needed to be able to rent it, and before having a lease. The repairs I want will make the place more livable; the ones she wants wouldn’t, but they’d make its “energy label” look better. Apparently she thinks I’m dumb enough to pay for repairs so her boyfriend can rent the place to use as an office for his under-the-table second job, rather than me renting the place (which gives me the right to buy it if I’m still renting it when Grandma dies, which I bloody well intend to and Grandma agrees with). Cousin, ass; ass, cousin.
Mom’s English isn’t very good, but she’s part toon and part ciborg; the ciborg part is a tongue like a laser scalpel. She says Cousin “does have a brain but keeps it on standbike, like the telly”.
Same here with the SO. To be fair, she did feel bad about it.
The cookware up-thread made me laugh. My father made sure to tell me–while we were out looking for something like an ice cream maker my mother wanted–to never buy things like cookware or appliances unless they are unambiguously wanted (and ideally rather expensive.) Funny thing is, I’m the one who does all the cooking (I turned out a pretty good Christmas dinner for two yesterday) and I have a long list of things I’d like to have if only I had space for them. Things like six more discs for my food processor, a stand mixer, new pots and pans to replace the ones I got years ago in grad school, a bread maker, even a set of new flatware.
And after trying to prepare so many side dishes ahead of time yesterday, Mom was practically begging for more pots and pans…looks like that’s on the list for next year.
