Thanksgiving on the Run

Ah, Thanksgiving. A day of rest and relaxing with family. Well, that is, if your family is all in one place. For me, the husband and toddler, this meant a day driving to and from the houses of various family. You see, there’s a small clause in the contract you sign when you become a parent (you didn’t know about the contract? It’s hidden among your hospital discharge papers!) that says that once you are the proud owners of your own mini human, you are obligated to travel to see all family members in an 8-hour radius for each holiday.

So we started the day travelling south one hour to see my mom and her side of the family. We had Thanksgiving dinner there, stayed and chatted for a bit, then packed up and headed out. We then drove north, right past our house and to the other end of Columbus to have another dinner with my dad and his side of the family. While I’m certainly glad my parents are divorced, I do wish I didn’t have so many different families to see.

After our second dinner in 4 hours, we stayed and talked to them a bit before once again packing up and driving through the snow to Aaron’s family gathering. Luckily, his mom’s side of the family already had their gathering on Sunday, so we were spared another stop beyond this. We enjoyed our third dinner in 6 hours (yes, I’m about to be sick at this point), and stayed for about an hour before packing up and heading home to put the Bear to bed.

All in all, it was a tiring day. Travelling to three different houses with a 14 month old has got to be a form of torture in some countries. She requires time to adjust to new surroundings, but didn’t get that time, and instead was forced to have relatives she barely knows up in her face loudly talking baby talk and generally making asses of themselves. As you can probably imagine, the crankiness that eminated from her today reached new highs. And I got very tired of the questioning. Had I had the chance, I should have prepared note cards to hand out to everyone with the following statement:

Happy Thanksgiving dear family member!! No, Cordelia is not walking on her own yet. She can take a few steps, but probably won’t show you, no matter how much you beg. Yes, we understand we’re in for it once she starts walking. Yes, she’s a very good crawler. Yes, she sleeps through the night most nights. Yes, she’s usually this fussy. No, the doctor says her height and weight are on the upper end, but are perfectly normal for her age. She can say a few words, like kitty and socks. And no, there are no plans for another child yet. Thank you.

That would have saved a lot of time. Then again, there would have been nothing left to talk about after that.

Still, I have to say that I am thankful for the family we have. Without them, life would be so much harder for us, and the support they give us with Cordy is a godsend. I’m also thankful to have a healthy little girl who is the light of my life, as well as a husband who is loving and patient and such a good daddy. I’m thankful for our wonderful home, for our three crazy but cute cats, our dear friends, and for our jobs that keep food on the table. Life is good.