Happy birthday to me...

Christmas Eve is very different for me-not only is it the last day before all the hoopla of the Christmas holiday, but it’s also my birthday. Over the years I’ve learned to live with it, but when I was little and trying to plan a birthday party, I had to worry about snowstorms and people canceling due to family holiday plans. I don’t have to worry about that now, but my birthdays are either fantastic or just one of those days, and there is no predicting how they will turn out.

Today turned out to be one of those humdrum birthdays, although things started out promising. My husband let me sleep in (it was glorious!) but things turned sour pretty quickly after a phone call from my mother. She wished me a happy birthday then we talked for a little bit about my plans for the holiday.

First some background knowledge. We don’t live near family-my parents and sisters are around 4 ½ hours away, and my husband’s family is about 5 hours away, so we celebrate Christmas with our kids at home and travel between the two families a few days later. Because my sisters and I are not close (and never have been due to someone always getting upset with someone else about something), the time spent at my parents house has dwindled down to only one day-my nerves can’t take much more than this. Unfortunately I have usually been the one someone was mad at (and I do admit that I am not entirely without fault in these situations), but it happens every time all of us get together (it’s funny because a one-on-one visit always goes well…) This year, despite my mother’s objections, I decided not to partake in all the drama of a group visit, and asked my mother if the visit could just be with my older sister and the grandparents (my older sister and I get along the best.)

Now how I was going to pull this off I didn’t know, but since I talk to my two younger sisters once in a blue moon, I didn’t think it would be a problem, that is until my mother started scheming ways in which my sisters would innocently pop over the house. My mother kind of let things slip when she was talking to me this morning, and I nearly went ballistic. I mean, I just want the kids to be able to visit with their grandparents alone without the other grandkids there and without all the arguing that always follows-it’s not even Christmas and I’m already arguing with my mother! Why should my kids have to witness this? And this whole affair bothers my mother more than anyone-my youngest sister and her husband said it would be fine with them-I think they don’t mind skipping what has become a custom either. I feel badly about arguing with my mother, but she never really listens to me-and believe me when I say that this has been going on my whole life.

From there things sort of nose dived-my kids weren’t listening to me, my husband had a headache and nausea, and I sat alone staring at my Christmas lights. My husband did pull through by late afternoon, and he did his best to salvage what was left of my day with dinner out. My kids started arguing at the table (even threats to my youngest about Santa watching did no good) and my response was, um, to laugh. I started laughing, saying in between guffaws, that this year’s birthday really stinks and then my husband started laughing! Oh well, thank goodness for my odd sense of humor, and thanks to a few of you bloggers out there who corresponded with me today (MOTPG, Nichol), and a very happy birthday to Laurie! Thanks for letting me vent-I'm off to watch The Christmas story. I hope you all have a wonderful, "pain-free" Christmas!