It made a little bit of sense to me, that my sister, once married, would alternate Thanksgiving dinner with her in-laws and Christmas dinner with her in-laws, every year. We still saw her Christmas morning, so this was somewhat acceptable. But my brother, who has apparently gone over to the dark side, is not even going to bother coming home for either of the two! And he’s not even married yet! This is pretty depressing to me. I am a complete sucker for Christmas, and I really can’t imagine it without my family all together.
Thanksgiving was a little depressing, first, because my brother didn’t come, but second, because my sister and her husband could not make it, since their car crapped out in Livermore. So neither of my siblings showed, and furthermore I had no real food since my sister was bringing the veggie food. That’s fine, Thanksgiving feasting turned into Thanksgiving snacking, which I can totally live with. But not having them around was weird and sad. My uncle and aunt had gone south, and very few of my cousins were there. My grandparents seem to have been ambushed by aging in the past couple of years, and this is visibly upsetting my grandfather. Maybe it’s a good thing that our numbers were so small: less stress for my grandparents?
Friday was a much better day. Grandma Kay’s waffles for breakfast (with peanut butter and maple syrup!) and then we went wine tasting, bringing along my grandparents. Which they REALLY enjoyed. I got tossed, and bought way too much wine. We picked up fancy-pants cheese on the way home, for a quick wine and cheese party. I was already drunk, then we all binged and ate too goddam much cheese, until we felt sick. Well, at least I did. I considered puking to make myself feel better, and for old times sake, since I always got sick at my grandma’s house as a child. But instead, crashed out face down in the turret room upstairs. Nap time was crudely interrupted by my mom who wanted me to get up to see a crappy movie. They only show crappy movies in Jackson, and The Incredibles was the least offensive. My grandparents had a wonderful time with us on Friday, and that night my grandmother slept through 8 hours for the first time in months.
Saturday, breakfast at Rosebud’s (best coffeecake in the world), tiny bit of shopping, and then home again. I baked brownies for my folks, which we scarfed with port, then we pulled out the Christmas stuff from the observatory. (no spiders this time, but did get one dead cricket.) Somehow it’s all left to me, and no siblings, decorating the tree with my mom. Sigh. I’m going to go cry now.
 | Currently listening: Merry Christmas From the Space-Age By Esquivel Release date: By 20 August, 1996  |
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