Gobble, Gobble

Welcome back from Thanksgiving, everyone!

Personally, I am not so much a fan of the Turkey Day. For starters, I don't like turkey, However, my overall feelings on the holiday are best summed up by Fiance's statement that my family "just doesn't seem to enjoy spending time with each other." It's true. Everyone is just too independent and stubborn and involved for us to all get along for very long, and this Thanksgiving was no exception.

My father's parents are still both alive and in excellent health in their early eighties. They walk two miles every day and eat abstemiously. These are the people we spent the holiday with since they live between me and my dad and stepmother. Recently, my grandparents, and particularly my grandmother, have decided that their deaths are just around the corner, which I suppose is always true when you are their age, but there is no particular cause of death lingering nearby that the rest of us can see. The three days spent in their home were a minefield in which you might at any moment hear, "Well, soon we'll be dead and then you will feel so guilty that you didn't...."

For instance, when asked why we were having distant cousins over for dinner that none of us knew (including my grandmother) we were told, "Well, soon we'll be dead and then you will feel so guilty that you didn't spend more time getting closer to the rest of the family." When my father asked why my uncle didn't get included in all of this, she said, "Well, he calls more often." My father pointed out that we visit more often, to which my grandmother replied, "Well, your brother can't visit very often because he has a real job." Now, my father does, in fact, have a real job. It's nine-to-five and has only a set number of vacation days a year and everything. I think this is the point at which my stepmother (who had been trying desperately to behave herself) got involved and announced that they were booking hotel rooms for their stay at Christmas instead of staying there.

So, what did I get out of this particular Thanksgiving?

Soon, my grandparents are going to be dead, and we are all going to feel so guilty that we feel so relieved not to see each other around the holidays.