SO MUCH!

Well hell.

Here we are again and weeks between posts.

I've really got to stay on top of this. I was doing well, too!

Alright, so a quick rundown on things that have happened:



My friend died and I had to deal with that. I went with two of The Sisters (*yes, this is how we are referred to. Capitals. Individually by name, as a congress is "The Sisters".) and it was so ... just plain awful, I can't even begin to express that. I know everyone loses someone and it's awful, but just talking to Mama and Daddy about it almost killed me. I skipped the funeral entirely. I fully expected to hear from my actual mother or siblings on my marked absence, but nary a word has been uttered. OldMan grumbles about this. About the possibility that someone MIGHT say something, not the events themselves. He maintains that I am an adult and my decisions are fine and wonderful and my family can jump in the lake. After almost twenty years, you would think he might have realized that I don't work like that and that the guilt I carry around on a daily basis for transgressions real and imagined is permanent.

ANYWAY -

My awesome brother-in-law graduated with his PhD. This is OldMan's brother. He does something in physics and is smarter than I like to think about. He and his wife live in another state, but flew in for a couple of days and stayed with us for the 'to-do'. I also had my mother and father-in-law, plus my sister-in-law's family here at the casa during random times. I don't mind, really, I enjoy playing hostess most of the time, but these people can't put a plan together for anything. I like some semblance of order. I mean, clearly, I'm not a Type-A, but at least a general idea of what's going on is usually helpful. However, this is not how these people work, evidently, so I spent a lot of time being surprised and then playing catch-up.

LovelyGirl had events and parties and finals and all sorts of interesting teenage shenanigans going on, so I was dealing with all of that, as well.

Yesterday, my favorite BFF sister turned 30, so there was some goings-on there! AND, she is officially moving to the big city soon. She leaves our lovely neck of the woods January 31 and starts her grown-up life. I'm so excited and jealous and sad and some other shit in there, too!

Plus:

Christmas shopping
Daily house maintenance
Animal maintenance
Lawn maintenance

And planning for Christmas.

Once you're an adult, Christmas becomes more of an obligation than something you enjoy. You have to schedule everything and figure out how to get all of the expected shit crammed into a very small amount of time.

Since my parents are divorced, there is a Christmas with my dad and The Sisters, then one with mom and that side of the family. And, because I'm married, we have to fit in a visit with OldMan's family, too. Luckily, his parents have been married for something like 45 years, so we only have one event there. You're going to hear more about these visits tomorrow, but suffice to say, it's always an event. The whole of OldMan's family used to get together on Christmas day, but, since the matriarch(s) have now passed, everyone kind of does their own thing.

In addition to all of that, OldMan, LovelyGirl and I try to have our own Christmas. Unfortunately, it's usually getting up Christmas morning, having coffee and presents, then breakfast, and then it's all-hell-breaking-loose trying to get ready to make it to OldMan's parent's house. I'd really like a Christmas day where the three of us could just stay in our jammies and watch movies and play with toys. LovelyGirl will go to college in a couple of years and probably won't want to hang out with us as much any more. Then, she'll get married and have kids and it will be her turn to try and schedule her life to death.

Maybe I'll just have Christmas in March or something.