So we spent Christmas in Dinseyworld. One of the attractions in Epcot is called Figment at the end of the ride we are able and invited to play with computer programs and we made this picture of Ms. Bee... Cute huh? I have to say that the trip on the whole was a great time... it was so needed and we had been saving/planning for quite awhile for this trip... I know we shouldn't have gone only becuase DH has been out of a job for several months but god it was so much fun!
The kids and I had a great time... My mom and a very close friend also joined us also had a great time, DH was sick most of the time and spent alot of time in the hotel I was sorry that he wasn't able to spend more time with us at the parks... Anyway Froggy was your typical 13 year old, grumpy teenager, Sparkles was I think enjoying the whole trip nicely and Ms Bee was loving every single mintue of it... she say most of the Princesses and all of the fireworks, some parades and went on the ride that she wanted to go on Dumbo! I had a great time watching everyone else and relaxing, not stressing on where I needed to be or what I needed to be doing... it was a wonderful vacation and a great way to spend the holidays. There was no well its Christmas morning we have to get up make breakfast so we can open presents and run over the other family to open presents there to the run somewhere else and pick up this or drop of that... Christmas morning we woke up, walked to go and get Bengets (small donuts things...) and hot coffee or hot chocolate and wonder what park we were going to spend the day... We ended up in MGM to make sure we watched Fantasmic for Christmas day... Wonderful... Fantasmic is my all time favorite fireworks/piro/muscial display... LOVE IT!! Counting the days until I can go back... Truly a magical place.
So starting at some point in September my ex voiced the idea that he would like to have Sparkles and Froggy join him in Las Vegas with his family for Thanksgiving… Okay fine we do the whole trading holiday thing and it generally works okay… I say generally. Well this year he wanted to save money in transportation by having his Brother drive the kids out to Las Vegas were the family would be meeting to spend the holidays. Well one hitch if the brother’s wife went then there wouldn’t be enough room in the car for both kids, if the wife didn’t go then no problem there would be plenty of room. The other issue we would not know until a few days before they were supposed to go how they would get there and in what form of transportation they would be taking and what my role would be in the getting them to the form of transportation. Needless to say I wasn’t pleased… I like to know what is going on, I can be spontaneous, but when it comes to a trip that involves taking time off of work or arranging babysitting or something of that sort, a little advance notice is great. And quite frankly necessary contrary to popular belief I am not at the beck and call of my ex husband… EX being the most important part of that phrase. Okay enough of that rant.
So here it is the week before Thanksgiving and the kids don’t know if they are seeing the family or if they will be left home. Where they love my family they see them all the time they don’t get to see the other part of their family but once or twice a year. So my Ex calls and wanted to know if he could come and take them out of school for two days so that he can drive down from Idaho take them home back to Idaho and then drive them down to Las Vegas. I said NO. Then he wanted me to drive them to Reno where we would meet and then he could drive them the rest of the way down to Las Vegas. I said NO. So this is what really ended up happening. The kids got on the Train in Martinez up to Reno were during the trip some moron drove their truck onto the tracks where it got caught in the tunnel so they were late meeting their Dad (which is just as well he is normally late so much better that he had to wait then them). Once in Reno the then drove the rest of the way down to Las Vegas. They spent a nice Thanksgiving with their Grandparents, assorted Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. On the way home… Sparkles went home via Airplane and Froggy went home via Uncle’s car. The Airplane was late arriving which wasn’t too bad I was almost late for work but really not an issue… the Brother (Uncle) miss judged the traffic coming home from Las Vegas to California and ended up doing a 100 mile stretch in 7 hours. Now I would have stopped and maybe even turned around but not the Uncle… so they got in around 3am and Froggy ended up missing a day of school. The moral of the story… THERE WILL BE NO LAST MINTUE HOLIDAY PLANS. If the ex wants the kids next year then the travel plans must be made no later than 20 days in advance of departure.
SO SAYS MOM… LAW HAS BEEN MADE.
Yeah I know its late but I just found it already writen so here it is...
So this year for Thanksgiving the family went off in several different directions.
Sparkles and Froggy went on a trip to see their Fathers side of the family (read Planes, Trains and Automobiles). DH and Miss Bee went to see his family for dinner. I stayed home, went over to my foster Brothers house for one dinner and then over to see my Mom.
I have to say that in the now five Thanksgivings since my Grandmother passed away and the extended family has scattered to the four corners of the universe I really don’t enjoy the holiday as much as I used to…
Thanksgiving to me used to mean a time to get with my very large family (we have numbered in the 40’s for dinner) for a lot of laughter and bonding. I miss it a lot. I have 12 cousins and most of them have S/O’s and/or children… so even logistically speaking getting everyone to eat in the same place was getting very hard, but very fun. Most of our family jokes all came form one Thanksgiving or another and a lot of our family traditions have come from those meals as well.
To say that we need to start our own traditions and our own holidays is not the same I can make all the same recipes and feed my family with my Mom and Sister but really its not the same I miss seeing my Aunts and Uncles, cousins and the orphans that always ended up at the table. The laughter and the jokes, the food and the leftovers, watching for the first time one of the ‘kids’ are allowed to drink wine with dinner. Seeing all the new babies and how much the kids have grown, reconnecting with my family.
The general chaos of the day…
We had great times I have wonderful memories I don’t want them to be just that memories. I want them to be living breathing moments. Maybe next year I will see if we can all get together again… I would have to rent a hall. :)
