As we've discussed, I will not be home for Christmas.
I will be out running around.
If you're reading this on Christmas Eve, I am probably at my sister's house. Today, we have brunch with dad, lunch with mom and family, and then dinner, well, wherever we can find it. I look forward to Christmas, I really do, but I hate the rush-rush-rush.
HATE.IT!
Tomorrow, I'll have Christmas with LovelyGirl and OldMan in the morning, and then we're racing off for a two-hour drive to my in-law's house for Christmas with them. Because of our animals, we cannot stay the night (much to my mother-in-law's disappointment) so we will stay for a few hours and then turn around and drive back. I had worked out a plan where we could take Tinydog with us, and just leave later in the afternoon so that the birds wouldn't be left alone so long during waking hours, but, OldMan said that wasn't good, so we're doing a day trip. Secretly, I think OldMan is grateful for the excuse to not stay.
Here's why:
His parents spent the last fifteen years caring for my father-in-law's mother. She passed a few months ago. We were all, of course, devastated, but honestly, she'd been ready to go since her husband died sixteen years previously, so it was also a relief. I will have to tell you the tale of her passing, sometime and how unbelievably tough this woman was! My in-laws are remarkable people. Truly.
When they moved in with her, she was living in the house where OldMan's aunts and father had grown up, so everyone pretty much came and went as they pleased. No one could understand why my in-laws would want to know in advance if someone was coming over. There had always been an open door policy, and it was not believed that it should ever change just because they were living there now. My poor mother-in-law would be running about cleaning and doing stuff in her houseclothes, and someone would just walk in unannounced and she'd be expected to feed them or entertain them or whatever, all under the pretense that they had come to visit Mimi (who would be sleeping or otherwise unavailable.)
I want to go on record here as saying the following things:
1. I have so much respect for my mother-in-law. I love her desperately, but I cannot imagine living with her, feeding her, changing her diapers and giving her a shower. I just can't. How she did that for HER mother-in-law is beyond me.
2. My in-laws stepped up because no one else in the family would. They were in the least reasonable position to take it on, but did it anyway. The aunts all had more time and ability, but no one would do it.
3. I would've murdered my entire family if they acted the way OldMan's did during the years. Not his parents, but the aunts, their husbands and kids and the rest.
So.
The in-laws decided to move. The reasoning was that if they moved into a house that everyone had NOT grown up in, maybe they could keep the doors locked.
Please be aware: my mother and father-in-law are in their 60's. They have lived in the city their entire lives. They, no shit, did a lot of drugs in their time, and now, they tend to ... well, they tend to do things that make you question their cognitive abilities.
Like, oh, I don't know - move two hours away into the middle of nowhere and buy some land in the country?
Yep.
They did.
The upside was that no one came to the house anymore. The downside was no one came to the house anymore.
They are happy there. They have a little house in the woods and a barn and a chicken house and some cats, ducks and a couple of dogs.
I tell you all of that to tell you this story:
*I thought a lot about what tale to tell for the Christmas post and it was OldMan who suggested this one.
About five years ago, a few days before Christmas, my father-in-law called OldMan to ask if he still had his shotgun.
Well, of course we did. It's mine, actually. OldMan wanted me to have a weapon for home defense that would be effective. I've never had to test that aspect, and I'm grateful. I'm further grateful to know that it's there. But, yes, we still had it. Why did he want to know?
Now, OldMan is imagining that there are maybe coyotes or some other predator preying on the livestock. If not, there are lots of wild hog roaming the area and maybe that's what he's after. Worst case scenario, someone is threatening them or there's been a break-in.
I wondered if he'd just had it with his wife.
Nope.
There's mistletoe in the trees and Pops wants OldMan to bring the shotgun to shoot it out of the trees.
Hand-to-god, that's the reason my father-in-law wanted us to bring the shotgun when we came at Christmas.
Never mind asking us to bring a saw or pole pruner or a ladder or anything actually useful.
Bring the shotgun.
Shoot the mistletoe.
Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is my father-in-law.
We took it, though. OldMan will never refuse his father any request, no matter how ludicrous. I'm okay with it, as long as it's just crazy and not genuinely fucked up. If we'd actually thought he'd shoot his wife, we probably would not have toted it along.
The boys spent the afternoon shooting trees and having a high time of it. My mother-in-law spent the day happily yelling at them to stop, that they were scaring the animals. LovelyGirl and I just watched the goings-on and enjoyed the show.
That was one of the most fun Christmases we'd had.
This year, however, we're just bringing steaks.
And gifts.
I got a couple of books for my mother-in-law on sustainable living and raising chickens.
My father-in-law?
He asked for Chinese throwing stars.
And that's what we got him.
I just wonder what he wants them for...
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| From our house to yours. Peace and good rest. In a sock. With the cute. |
Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Belated Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Beautiful Solstice -
Happy Holidays to you, my dear readers. Enjoy your day, no matter what you're doing.
With love,
XOXO and Family.
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