Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Family Tradition.

Well, the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. I've been gearing up for it by doing food shopping, and drinking  going to therapy getting out all of my recipes. Thanksgiving around here always goes the same way.

First, I do my shopping. I buy what I can in advance but a couple of things I wait to get until the day before to get, like celery and bananas etc because I don't want them to go bad before the big day. Then the day of I usually send dear ol' hubby to get the things I forgot or thought I had but didn't. That's when it starts.

At first, I'm all amped up ready to take on anything because I am supermom after all. Oh, it's an amazing thing to behold. Slicing, dicing, boiling, peeling. *sigh* Then as the day wears on, anyone that can talk will tell you to stay out of my damn way and for Christ's sake DO. NOT. COME. IN. THE. KITCHEN.

But if you are willing to take the chance to peek in there, you'll not be seeing the sweet smile I started out with. Humming while I work, a thing of the past. What you will see is hair falling in strands around my face, my clothes covered with a hodgepodge of different ingredients covering my clothing and the floor, about 251 dirty dish towels, pots boiling over, and me sweating worse than the ham in the oven.


And of course there's my family's constant phone calls asking: What time is it again? Do you need anything (because the day of the event is the proper time to ask this - Yes, I need you to leave me the frick alone!), What exit is it again? (Because I've only lived here for 6 years... ) and so on. Quite often I don't even hear the phone. Sometimes because I don't want to and sometimes because of the slamming and cussing I'm doing.


Now most everything is done, and the family start arriving in approximately 5 minutes. Since I can't very well look the way I am and be presentable, I rush of to the bathroom to change my clothes (sooo glad I picked out every one's clothes the night before), check on food, shower put on deodorant/perfume to cover up my sweat and food smelling self, check on food, throw on the bare minimum of makeup, check the food, style brush my hair, and check on food.

12 seconds until family is to arrive. It's officially go time. Time to put the kids' clothes on. (Soo soo soooooo glad I laid out the clothes the night before!) Change diapers, check on food. Change James' clothes, check on food. Change Reid's clothes, get snot wiped on me, wipe off with wet washcloth. Check food, sweet potatoes are burnt. Scrape off marshmallows, put on new ones, put back in oven. Realize shirt has burnt marshmallows on it, change shirt.

Sweep kitchen floor, use crusty dish towel to wipe up spots left, wipe down counters, realize hubby has set the table, (insert angelic singing here) yell a "thank you" across the house... no reply. WTF. Check on hubby. Hubby has decided that now is the time for a quick shave and has locked himself in the bathroom, meanwhile the boys have gotten into -insert any random thing here- and has it on their clothes. Pull sweet potatoes out of oven. Rush to change their clothes, in walks Mae - Still. In. Her. Pajamas.




Mae goes upstairs to change after me asking her nicely yelling at the top of my lungs, "Why are you not dressed?! Do you know what today is?! Are you crazy?!" Umm.. yeah. Run back to the kitchen, toss the food onto the table. Grab the boys to keep them from getting into yet another something just as Mae comes back down the stairs dressed and ready to go, Travis comes out of the bathroom freshly shaved and smelling wonderful. Family knocks on door, I plaster a smile on my face and we open the door - the scene of a perfect family.




If you thought that was crazy, you're in for it.. but I'll try to make this short. Shouldn't be hard since the next hour is a blur anyway. Just picture everyone trying to grab at food while smarting off to whoever is in their line of fire, arguments breaking out, spilled drinks, kids whining because they wanted ham instead of turkey, people talking with their mouths full, people getting seconds...... and then it's over. Kids are in the play room being loud (but who cares, they're out of our hair), mom is complaining about the food making her gassy, hubby's undoing his pants, and my sister is promising to help with the dishes in just a minute just two seconds before her snoring can be heard from the sofa.

My lovely husband usually washes the dishes (Yes, ladies. Read it and weep!) while I put food away and wipe things down. We all sit around chatting for a while and then everyone goes home. We get the kids bathed and in bed. Then I (finally) take a shower and go to bed myself. After all, I have to get ready for Black Friday!




What is your Thanksgiving like? Do you have any traditions? Share your story below!




If you like this post please press follow and/or share! I'd really appreciate it!

1 comment:

  1. We did have traditions but the last couple years it seems like things are changing yet again. So for right now, I'm just fixing for my little family and we're going to enjoy ourselves. Mom and Dad will be here and some friends might stop through as they go from house to house, but it'll be a small thing. Hope you guys enjoy yourselves! Don't stress too much.

    ReplyDelete