no, the decorations are still up...most of them, anyways! I am leaving that job until I go back to work, so the man can have that special enjoyment of the season and box things up that no longer properly fit into said boxes.
Christmas......was nice.
Santa came through in a big way and the kids got a trampoline! they had to wait a few days in order to use it, because the man pulled a huge idiot move.
guess what? Christmas is December 25. yeah...not exactly "news", right? well, apparently, he forgot. yes, you read that right. he forgot Christmas. and New Years. he gets to put in for what days off he wants, and he has seniority where he works, so whatever days he asks for, he gets. easy. he ended up working Christmas Eve until 5PM. was useless on Christmas Day. and he is working NYEve until 6PM, and working NY Day all day as well. so the trampoline just got put together yesterday.
kids are out of school. I'm off work. yah, great "family time" planning there, honey.
OK, onto a very serious subject that I just learned about this year. have you heard of these personalized calenders? you upload pictures(usually of your children, but whatever...I'm not picky)and you create a calender for your loved ones.
went over really well except for the one person who I thought would love it. my mother. her first words, once she did a quick looksie, was this..."where's my birthday?"
umm, if the calender if FOR YOU, don't you know when your own birthday is already? I put all of your grand children's birthdays on it. you know, with pictures of them? it's not a "Grandma" calender. if you want a damn calender all about yourself, then go to shutterfly and make it.
I have a lot of tension with my mother lately. she promised to take my daughter for a Mother/daughter function with Daisies for me. I had to work and could not get out of it. she said sure, fine, would love to. then, she tells me 2 days before the event that she is going to be out of town that day, so can we do it another time? umm, no. no, we cannot do it another day. because, you see, that would involve me changing 20 other people's plans and rearranging a dance performance that tickets have been bought for all because YOU decided to go to the beach for the day. no apology, no nothing. she was confused as to why I was pissed.
she pulled a similar move a few months ago when I needed to attend a work related conference. she was to *gasp* have her grandchildren sleepover for 1 night. she tells me the day before I was scheduled to leave that "she's just not sure it's a good idea. three kids are a lot."
now, those of you who know me, see the irony here. I am one of three children. when my mother was a mom to 3 girls, her mother lived nearby and was a huge part of our lives, simply because she was THERE a lot. and yes, I remember having a sleepover now and then with her.
so once I had a hissy fit and explained to her that telling me this at that moment was not helping me at all and rearranging so that 1 child was going somewhere else and she was now only responsible for 2 grandchildren, all was fine. but she felt she needed to remind me about 20 times shortly after that trip of how much she was HELPING me.
it's not so much of a help when I am made to feel that I am leaving me children with someone who doesn't really want them. not easy to go pretend that life is wonderful and learning new exciting things about teeth are my number 1 priority in life for this 1 weekend.
I guess what I've been forced to realize is that my mother is just not the person that I thought she was. I cannot depend on her. I listen to what she says, but I do not really believe the words until I see them happen. I have come to realize that she is not, in fact, moving to Clermont to "be near her grandchildren". because let's face it, if it hasn't happened in the 10 years since she told me this, it's probably not gonna happen.
my goal for 2010? to not be that Mom. to mean what I say and do what I can to make my children know how important they are to me, everyday.
oh, and yes...pics of me and kids on trampoline will be forthcoming.
