Thursday, November 26, 2009

We Have Rules for a Reason

Happy Thanksgiving all my bloggy friends. I hope your day is filled with deliciousness and family harmony. I pray mine is too.

You know how I can take a short story and make it a whole lot longer - you might want to grab a cup of tea and maybe a sandwich.

I really shouldn't be here bloggin' right now, but it's my Blog-a-versary, can you believe it? Three Thanksgivings ago this madness began. And so the madness continues. I've got 40 plates spinning in the air, but I'm stopping to talk to you people - who are likely licking pie filling spoons, pointlessly basting birds (they say you don't really make it more moist by doing that...) or watching football. (They still play a football game on Thanksgiving Day, don't they? This country is changing so much I just wonder... Let me just step down from that soapbox mighty quick.)

Back to my long short story. We've had a bit of a change from our original plans and I just wanted to make you feel better about your day - so I'll share how things are going here.

Let's review by looking at the future. The first week of December (which begins next week) is pretty full for me. First I have a Women's Ministry Christmas social on the 3rd, (but nobody has let me know if they're coming or not yet - and I'm not twisting any arms or sending out any RSVP reminders this time...) then on the 5th we're having a Christmas open house for who-knows how many people - again - no RSVP's... Someday I'll address that in a post - I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats now...) Next we'll head to a local town for a big all day long Pearl Harbor grand re-opening of the WWII museum complete with an address by President Pappy Bush 41 and then on the 8th we have our big Homeschool Mom's Christmas Extravaganza (which I'm co-planning with my very dear friends on our homeschool association's board of directors) Oh - and my only sister's birthday is that week too.

Tired yet? I am.

File all that away and let's flash back to last Sunday. My babies' daddy was off flying somewhere... I don't know where he's flying so much any more, I made no less than four trips to the airport an hour away in the Big City last week, but I know he was flying since I'd driven him to the airport again for the first leg of his trip that morning. Well anyway, he's trying to be a romantic guy and shoots me a text message from somewhere in the Midwest and wants to know if I could work in a romantic getaway for the long Thanksgiving weekend to southern California, just the two of us. How does a girl turn down something like that???

She looks at her bulging calendar, that's how.

But I came to my senses, called my momma who assured me that getting away was the right thing to do and even promised that she would take care of everything on the home-front and I could even come back to a clean house - and children that were still alive - Bonus!

A little later that same afternoon I was driving my mother and father-in-law to a Thanksgiving service and potluck dinner at our sister church (the other church our Pastor serves) about 25 miles from us. I mentioned the potential romantic get-away and my mother-in-law offered to host Thanksgiving dinner at her house to help lighten my load. (She didn't find out until two days later that her babies' daddy of 50+ years was a walking petri dish of the shingles virus...)

This is where the rule breaking commences.

I've had a hard and fast rule ever since I can remember to NOT put up any Christmas decorations until Thanksgiving was over. And by "over" I mean, you put down your napkin and roll away from the table. It's not unusual at all for us to put up the tree while there are still dishes with dried bits of stuffing on them stacked in the sink.

But I'm looking at my schedule and wondering how in the world I'm going to take down Thanksgiving and put up Christmas by December 5, plan and execute all of those other events, while at the same time subtracting a full three days from my already sleepless schedule??

Just this once, only this one emergent time, I'll pack up the Thanksgiving and fall decor (except for the bales of hay, pumpkins, leaves and gourds on the front porch) and get Christmas up early. And it was decided.

I got my strapping farm-boy husband to hoist in the many crates, boxes and the forest of amazingly lifelike trees from our shed. My house was now a maze of Christmas craziness. The cats were in heaven and the kids got a whole new dimension to hide-n-seek games.

Let's jump a day or two forward to Thanksgiving Eve. (You see how these stories get so long... I could have said "yesterday" a perfectly acceptable description of the time period, but I went with 9 extra words instead - not counting this explanation...) Yesterday, it all began unraveling.

Father-in-law was in a considerable amount of pain with his shingles, and even though he isn't considered contagious (unless you actually come in contact with the blisters) he's not up for company. His primary care doc isn't calling him back, but waiting for the four day weekend to pass before he addresses the issue. We don't have time, but we're swinging that bat now, instructing him in being aggressive in demanding care. I'm sure that whole health care situation will be improving any minute now...

I should have seen it coming a day or two ago, but when my mother-in-law called and canceled turkey dinner at her house it kind of broadsided me. I fully expected my mom would say we could just eat dinner at her place, no problem, but she said there was no way she could get it on the table before my man and I were to be already in the air on our way to L.A. for some relaxing Black Friday traffic dodging.

So at about 5 in the afternoon it was decided that I would be hosting Thanksgiving in my half Christmas / full mess house.

Poor Babies' Daddy made the mistake of calling from the "road" again - on his way back from Alabama - wondering how my day was going. I let him know that the fecal material had hit the rotating oscillator and he needed to flap faster. He was expected in about midnight.

At 1:30 a.m. he sent me the text message saying he was back and would be home soon.

At about 2:45 a.m. I called him to see if he was dead in a ditch.
He was changing his second flat tire - which doesn't go well when you only have one spare.

By 3:30 a.m. I had picked him up, and he was home from our last minute dinner prep trip to Wal-Mart and tucked in his nice warm sheets. Don't tell CPS or my mother that I left my three kids snug in their beds while I went out and grabbed him from the side of the road. We had established earlier in the week that the 12 year-old knows where the fire extinguishers are kept... that's another short story for another day.

And so today begins. I've decided to re-pack a few of the Christmas decorations and unpack a few of the fall decorations and eventually I'll pack my bags for my relaxing holiday which consists of three points of interest, a trip to In-N-Out Burger, and a minor singing gig in 2 1/2 days. Don't worry for me... Tonight I'm sure there will be plenty of restful sleep on my sis-in-law's pull out sofa! WhoamI kidding... I don't sleep when she and I get together! There's too much fun to be had.

I'll see you in a few days with a "short" report - assuming I survive.

May your turkey be moist, your pie crust be flaky, your cider sparkling, and your family blessed!

6 comments:

  1. Hey, I listed "Rules" as one of my Thankfuls, too!!

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  2. WOW....I think honestly may have Lisa beat this time! Hope you have a great getaway!!!!
    Hugs, :) Heather

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  3. Have fun on your getaway. You're going to need the rest for the month.

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  4. We are SO looking forward to having you come stay with us!
    Safe travels and LYS.

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  5. Seriously! If you would blog more often maybe these posts could be shorter!

    I hope you had a great time and at least get a little rest this week! Lisa~

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  6. Lisa... it's because my posts are so long that I don't post more often... And anyway, have you ever known me to TELL a short story???

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