The pre-birthday blues
My family is whacked.
My grandmother called today. In addition to apologizing for the bed, she mentioned Thanksgiving. Now, I've been told by my mother that grandma wants nothing to do with Thanksgiving this year; she just wants to stay home. Grandma *is* looking to come over a few days later, though, to pick up some stuff that we transported in the U-Haul. She mentioned something about bringing over leftovers from Dominick's "because they have such a good deal on food."
Me: ?
I think then she asked what we were doing, or something, and I said, well, Jewel has this thing where if you spend enough money, you earn points toward a turkey; we have enough points for a turkey. And we've already bought stuffing and cranberry sauce. I thought we were still having Thanksgiving, if only so we could feed Papa (my grandfather).
(And, if you're not in the know, Jewel and Dominick's are local grocery stores.)
Grandma: ?!
She got a little...hmm...miffed? upset? Not sure there's a word for it, but her voice changed. Oh, he's coming over? she asked. Well, as far as I know, I said. Then, she said, oh, forget everything I mentioned. Just let you mom know I called.
Fast forward to this afternoon. Mom and dad both had to work; when they were both home, we went and picked up two closet components (I've already put one together), stopped at Best Buy (where mom really really really wanted the Barbie karaoke machine--it sets itself up so that you can see yourself on TV), then went to IHOP for dinner. I started talking about my conversation with grandma. I mentioned that we'd talked about Thanksgiving, and how we were having dinner with Papa.
Mom: Why'd you do that?
Me: Because aren't we?
Mom: Why would you think that?
Me: Um, because it's Thanksgiving?
Mom: Well, grandma and I decided that since neither of us wanted to have Thanksgiving, that we weren't having it.
Dad and I were incredulous.
Mom kept insisting, oh, we canceled Thanksgiving this year. Well, thanks for telling the rest of us! Mom kept going, good job, you've alienated my parents. Okay, well, first off, it was just one of them. Second, if you'd, I don't know, MENTIONED AT ALL that you hadn't wanted Thanksgiving, then I wouldn't have said anything. All she's been saying for a month now is that grandma didn't want to do Thanksgiving. She has said nothing about her herself not wanting Thanksgiving. That leaves three people in the dark: me, my father, and my grandfather. A good portion of dinner was spent with her really mad at me--right, because I would purposely piss off my grandma, whom sometimes I love more than my mom--when dad and I were mad at *her*. Finally mom went and said, okay, so I guess I just discussed it with grandma. No kidding. So as soon as we got home mom called grandma to talk to her and figure out what was going on; grandma is still staying home, but she's welcome to come if she wants. We still haven't talked with my grandfather; for all we know, he's flying out to Arizona to be with his girlfriend. (We sort of abandoned him last year, when we went up to Lake Geneva and he wasn't invited.) So it sort of makes sense, that we'd get him for the holiday this year. It's so fun with divorced grandparents. (And, don't think there's animosity there; my grandparents are still fond of each other and we almost always have holidays with them.)
Grr.
In other news, I keep flashing back to this time last year. My birthday was a Saturday last year, and I had hoped to see "Saturday Night Live," well, live. Unfortunately, plans fell through and I didn't go...which ended up fine, as there was no show the Saturday before Thanksgiving last year. It was actually unprecedented. There had been a number of shows on that date in the past; I can always recall a show on that Saturday. So, this year, there is a show tonight...and just my luck, U2 is going to be on! Ugh. But that's okay. I still did send away for SNL tickets, and while I haven't heard anything, there's still a good number of shows left this season. I think I read somewhere that they contact you two weeks before that particular show that they send you tickets for.
My grandmother called today. In addition to apologizing for the bed, she mentioned Thanksgiving. Now, I've been told by my mother that grandma wants nothing to do with Thanksgiving this year; she just wants to stay home. Grandma *is* looking to come over a few days later, though, to pick up some stuff that we transported in the U-Haul. She mentioned something about bringing over leftovers from Dominick's "because they have such a good deal on food."
Me: ?
I think then she asked what we were doing, or something, and I said, well, Jewel has this thing where if you spend enough money, you earn points toward a turkey; we have enough points for a turkey. And we've already bought stuffing and cranberry sauce. I thought we were still having Thanksgiving, if only so we could feed Papa (my grandfather).
(And, if you're not in the know, Jewel and Dominick's are local grocery stores.)
Grandma: ?!
She got a little...hmm...miffed? upset? Not sure there's a word for it, but her voice changed. Oh, he's coming over? she asked. Well, as far as I know, I said. Then, she said, oh, forget everything I mentioned. Just let you mom know I called.
Fast forward to this afternoon. Mom and dad both had to work; when they were both home, we went and picked up two closet components (I've already put one together), stopped at Best Buy (where mom really really really wanted the Barbie karaoke machine--it sets itself up so that you can see yourself on TV), then went to IHOP for dinner. I started talking about my conversation with grandma. I mentioned that we'd talked about Thanksgiving, and how we were having dinner with Papa.
Mom: Why'd you do that?
Me: Because aren't we?
Mom: Why would you think that?
Me: Um, because it's Thanksgiving?
Mom: Well, grandma and I decided that since neither of us wanted to have Thanksgiving, that we weren't having it.
Dad and I were incredulous.
Mom kept insisting, oh, we canceled Thanksgiving this year. Well, thanks for telling the rest of us! Mom kept going, good job, you've alienated my parents. Okay, well, first off, it was just one of them. Second, if you'd, I don't know, MENTIONED AT ALL that you hadn't wanted Thanksgiving, then I wouldn't have said anything. All she's been saying for a month now is that grandma didn't want to do Thanksgiving. She has said nothing about her herself not wanting Thanksgiving. That leaves three people in the dark: me, my father, and my grandfather. A good portion of dinner was spent with her really mad at me--right, because I would purposely piss off my grandma, whom sometimes I love more than my mom--when dad and I were mad at *her*. Finally mom went and said, okay, so I guess I just discussed it with grandma. No kidding. So as soon as we got home mom called grandma to talk to her and figure out what was going on; grandma is still staying home, but she's welcome to come if she wants. We still haven't talked with my grandfather; for all we know, he's flying out to Arizona to be with his girlfriend. (We sort of abandoned him last year, when we went up to Lake Geneva and he wasn't invited.) So it sort of makes sense, that we'd get him for the holiday this year. It's so fun with divorced grandparents. (And, don't think there's animosity there; my grandparents are still fond of each other and we almost always have holidays with them.)
Grr.
In other news, I keep flashing back to this time last year. My birthday was a Saturday last year, and I had hoped to see "Saturday Night Live," well, live. Unfortunately, plans fell through and I didn't go...which ended up fine, as there was no show the Saturday before Thanksgiving last year. It was actually unprecedented. There had been a number of shows on that date in the past; I can always recall a show on that Saturday. So, this year, there is a show tonight...and just my luck, U2 is going to be on! Ugh. But that's okay. I still did send away for SNL tickets, and while I haven't heard anything, there's still a good number of shows left this season. I think I read somewhere that they contact you two weeks before that particular show that they send you tickets for.