A Mommy Story

Today was the first of three days of family greeting, gift-exchanging, and sinful food eating. Thanks to Hanukkah being celebrated by Aaron’s family on Dec. 26 this year, we have are running the gauntlet of holiday gatherings.

Luckily, Cordelia was feeling much better today. She slept fitfully last night, but today there were no blow-out diapers or vomiting stains. Whew.

Our first challenge was my father’s side of the family gathering. One of the “benefits” (curses, really) of a divorced family is having multiple celebrations.

Dad’s family are very nice people, but we have little in common with them. They live in grand, well-styled houses, talk sports and fashion, and we’re poor geeks. That always makes things a little uncomfortable.

Plus my father and I have a currently on-again, but usually off-again father-daughter relationship. Let’s put it this way: he boycotted my wedding and didn’t speak to us again until he was a grandfather and suddenly wanted to have a grandchild to brag about. As you can probably tell, I trust him about as much as I’d trust a new AA member at an open bar: always a wary eye on him.

The theme for this Christmas could have been “over-compensation”. Cordy got a few nice gifts from the other relatives: a Toys R Us gift card, a Little People set, some clothing. And then my dad: the Cinderella DVD (which will be great in two years), a Snoopy (because she needs another stuffed animal to go with the other 859), a toy cell phone (that we already have), a musical book (seriously, what circle of hell is for people who buy kids loud, annoying toys?), and an effin’ solid wood rocking chair. They’re great gifts, but I just felt like it was a little bit of overkill.

For Aaron and I, we got a gift card to a restaurant we like, which is always appreciated, and an AMC movies gift card, complete with babysitting. We’ll use the card, but skip the babysitting. Cordy barely knows my dad, and at this time I don’t trust my father enough to leave her alone with him.

Cordy, for all the chaos of 20 kids running around, was a trooper tonight as well. The party started at 6:30pm. Cordy normally goes to bed at 6:30pm. See the fun that can come from this? She was cranky the entire night, but managed to hold in her meltdown until just after 9pm, when one of the kids took the ball she was playing with. At that point, all the candy canes in all the North Pole wouldn’t keep her from laying down in the middle of the floor and wailing with fury.

She fell asleep in the car, and when we got home, she was quickly changed into PJs and put to bed. Tomorrow morning will be a new crop of family members – this time from my mom’s side of the family. But at least we’ll be at home, where Cordy feels comfortable, and it will be during a time when she’s normally awake.

Monday will be the real test. Hanukkah at Aaron’s parents house, starting around 4:30pm. It will be the third day of having barely known relatives up in Cordy’s face, and it will be pushing her bedtime. If she can make it through this, she’s ready for anything.

For now, it’s late on Christmas Eve, the house is clean, the gifts are wrapped, the child is asleep, and I have a glass of wine. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a peaceful sleeping through the night.