Sunday, November 12, 2006
T Minus Nine Days And Counting
Every year, Ace's family has their annual Thanksgiving get together. Ace has two uncles (my FIL's brothers), and they have two and three children a piece. Two of those kids have two kids of their own, one of the kids has a baby, the other is expecting, and then there are our three yahoos. So, if you really want to add up how many people will be shoved into one house, here is your total: 23, at the least.
23. That thar is a lot of people.
The number of people isn't what frightens me on these trips.
This Northerner scratches her head every time I have to indulge in this Southern tradition of theirs: the men go "bonding" and the women stay behind and cook for their men.
READ: The men are told to get the heck out of the kitchen because all they want to do is eat everything before it makes it to the table.
Now that grandchildren who are mobile have been added to the picture, they are taken on these "bonding" trips, if it is appropriate. I know Queen and the Man will be going. Not sure about the Monkey, though. It depends on what the activity is.
And the activity always has to be some Mission Impossible secret. Nobody can know where they are going, or what they are doing. I am sure at some point in time, this bonding trip resembled more of a fraternity hazing activity than anything else. But now that smaller children are added to the mix, they have toned down their trips to things more "kid-friendly."
I have suggested a number of times that these bonding trips should be more female-oriented, i.e., the WOMEN should get to go shopping, even if it is just at the local Wal Mart or Target, and the MEN should stay behind and do all the cooking and preparing.
But this is a trip that Ace looks forward to, and we haven't been able to make one in a while due to work schedules or the sheer amount of distance that we need to travel to make it. This year, we are going down to close to Nashville, TN. That is a jaunt for us up here (probably a 10-12 hour trip, all put together), but we have built-in stopping areas along the way, one being the cabin with the stairs from hell.
So we will depart on this endeavor next Tuesday morning, if not Monday night (to make it to stop # 1, Louisville, KY).
I'm packing the Drammamine and the DVD. To heck with anything else.
Oh yeah. And my underwear. I don't want to relive having to ask my MIL for a pair.
posted by Knitting Maniac at 9:53 AM
I'm a mom of three peeps ... Queen Bee, The Door Man, and the Chandelier Monkey, and wife to Ace, the Helpful Hardware Man. I created this space to get away from the people known as my inlaws, and because life with three kids and a hubby is all Unexplored Territory.
The nine-year-old who seems to be growing older every minute, has an opinion and a comment for everything, and has a true servant's heart.
The seven-year-old who loves the organization of things, will someday be someone's therapist because of his kind soul, and will more than likely be living with us until he is 40 years old.
The five-year-old with the 13-year-old attitude, who has a dictator's personality, asks you to watch her all the time and say "hold on" to keep your attention, and will someday come home on the back of some dude's motorcycle with 10 tatts and a body piercing or two.
The man of the house, the fixer of things, the winner of prizes, and the only person in his family to escape the South.
Magazines
Ticked or not?
A week without Thursday Thirteen
I SO Need This
Calling the Queen Out
Nothing witty today
Pass the Torch Tuesday
How much DO you love me?
Star Wars: Fix YouTo show you that I am a true Sta...
Overheard at our house
6 Comments:
You had to ask to borrow underwear? Bwahahahaha! Out of that whole story THAT is what really caught my attention. I'm cracking up at the thought.
Pman has decided no traveling for holidays this year, we will stay put. If his family wants to see him/us, they can drive here. Normally we alternate, Thanksgiving here/Christmas there and vice versa.
My family alone is 38, so I know the pain of cramming tons of people into one house.
Have fun!
The trip down sounds like a Grizzwald nightmare, but hopefully you'll make it all in one piece. And hopefully you make it up the stairs from hell. Oh. My. Lord. I'm out of breath just looking at that staircase.
I hope the boys and kids have fun on their mission, and you have as much fun in the kitchen as you can have. I know the women in my husband's family get together and drink wine while they are cooking. That always makes them happy. They start days ahead of time. There is usually 70+ people at our Thanksgiving every year. (That's what happens because grandma has nine kids! Every year there is someone new in the family.) They always make 4 or 5 turkeys, plus tons of other fixin's.
I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week already! Where has the year gone???
Do you remember a mutual friend of ours telling us how her MIL forgot to pack her underwear? She had 2 pairs I think but just kept washing one of them and hanging them up to dry. EWWWWW! I think I would be offering to run her to Wal-Mart for a panty purchase!!!!!
You had to borrow from you MIL? I would rather go without. LOL! I definitely have to get to the bottom (pun intended) of that story!
I expect to read a lot of posts of all the craziness that is to come. YIKES! You know, start a new tradition, the men clean up after the dinner, and the women go bonding.
Our guys used to go hunting while the women (read: my mother) prepared the meal (with a little help from the girls). Now that all of the kids are married, we've started a new tradition. We have Thanksgiving dinner with my family Wednesday night so my mom has all day to cook. Thursday is spent with the outlaws--er, inlaws.
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