Words fail me.
Folks just got back from their trip a little bit ago. Am so very glad that I stayed home, because from the sounds of it, my Christmas was better than theirs.
They had shit weather going down, then evidently stayed at SIL's place which is not all that terribly big, so more people = more stress. Dinner day was a stress in itself as they went to a friend of SIL's for Christmas and there were a bunch of screaming kids running around, the wife was sick (medication-sick, not cold-sick) and my dad and SIL were getting on each other's nerves (they have never gotten along).
Then the poor Sharknado got dinged up again (during the trip down, through a bunch of crappy storms), this time in the rear when a car skidded into my folks' from behind. The damage, thankfully, isn't bad: a few small scrapes that aren't really noticeable unless you look up close (I'll see better once it's daylight). But still! Something tells me that poor car is going to get beat up as long as it's with us. :(
To top it all off, my nephew apparently set a record for an obscene amount of expensive presents. Even my folks were appalled by what he got: my dad estimated that he'd gotten at least $400 worth of shit! This includes an Xbox and a flat-screen TV. This kid is barely ten years old. SIL's family is the shopaholic type and can afford it, evidently.
Suddenly I don't feel so bad about not being able to afford even *one* present this year. (Or last year either, for that matter) (Well, I *would* like to be able to get stuff for certain people...)
I don't think I even had an original Nintendo yet when I was fucking ten.
So, yeah. Peace, quiet and a damn good turkey dinner > annoying holiday stress. I think I won at Christmas.
They had shit weather going down, then evidently stayed at SIL's place which is not all that terribly big, so more people = more stress. Dinner day was a stress in itself as they went to a friend of SIL's for Christmas and there were a bunch of screaming kids running around, the wife was sick (medication-sick, not cold-sick) and my dad and SIL were getting on each other's nerves (they have never gotten along).
Then the poor Sharknado got dinged up again (during the trip down, through a bunch of crappy storms), this time in the rear when a car skidded into my folks' from behind. The damage, thankfully, isn't bad: a few small scrapes that aren't really noticeable unless you look up close (I'll see better once it's daylight). But still! Something tells me that poor car is going to get beat up as long as it's with us. :(
To top it all off, my nephew apparently set a record for an obscene amount of expensive presents. Even my folks were appalled by what he got: my dad estimated that he'd gotten at least $400 worth of shit! This includes an Xbox and a flat-screen TV. This kid is barely ten years old. SIL's family is the shopaholic type and can afford it, evidently.
Suddenly I don't feel so bad about not being able to afford even *one* present this year. (Or last year either, for that matter) (Well, I *would* like to be able to get stuff for certain people...)
I don't think I even had an original Nintendo yet when I was fucking ten.
So, yeah. Peace, quiet and a damn good turkey dinner > annoying holiday stress. I think I won at Christmas.