Edubabble and other Blither

This was a good weekend. For most of it. Friday night was the middle school Christmas party, and we ate there. Saturday we went to my brother-in-law's house and ate there. Today Tripper and I went to another friend's house, where he hooked up some cable. She, too, fed us.

When I got home, I called my mother, who fed me her favorite meal of guilt, pity-side-up. She had called me for my birthday, but I was at the party, singing "Like a Virgin" and almost losing my keys and didn't get home until late. We chatted for awhile, and I asked the question.

"Have you and George decided when we can have Christmas?"

Saturday the 23rd was decided on. We made some more small talk about decorating. I told her I wasn't really into it this year, so I wasn't doing any. I vacillate yearly. She told me she wasn't sure if my stepsiblings would be there or when. I said we'd have fun no matter who was there or who wasn't.

As the conversation wound down, this is what I got:

"Aw, George will be so disappointed. We just get whatever's left when it comes to the holidays. I know we're not religious, but it's still the holiday, and it's sad that we won't have our family with us on Christmas Eve or Day."

"OK, well, see ya," I said and hung up.

Is she kidding me? The reason the 23rd was chosen was because of George's work schedule. (He works shifts. It seems to me that for him the holiday would be when he DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK.) For years she wanted Christmas Eve, and she got it. ("Go wherever on Christmas Day, just give us our Christmas Eve celebration.") When George's schedule changed, she suddenly wanted Christmas Day, and she got it.

Here's the deal-- blended families cannot simply get everyone together all the time. If my stepsiblings will be with their grandparents, so be it. I have to see my father, Tripper's mother, Tripper's father, and my mother in three separate cities within a hundred mile radius. Tripper's family gatherings depend on when his brother and family can get there from clear across the state. It doesn't fucking work! I'm melting! Oh, what a world, what a world....

So we're making a point. He's coming with me to Rust Belt Town, but then he's leaving and will spend Christmas Day with his mother, and I with mine. I will come back to Dogpatch at a later date, and then we'll do rounds two and three.

Deck the halls? Deck the fucking families.