Kinda Bummed about Christmas

Rant ahead! ;o) I thought this year would be better. No getting up early to open presents then hurry to pack and head to Illinois. We slept in..late. Took our time opening presents had a nice lunch. But I kept missing my family. All of us sitting around the table..laughing and playing games. I am glad that Sarah got to stay here and play with all of her stuff. She was so happy with everything she got. Everything she opened was "I always wanted ___ !" LOL We headed up to Peoria on Friday the 26th. Went through terrible fog. I was driving..the only way I could have handled that stuff. It was awful. You couldn't see more than two car lengths in front of us. When I had someone in front of me I was ok..but as soon as their lights disappeared I wanted to cry. I was so stressed by the time we reached Peoria..I was hurting. We met my family for brunch Saturday then headed to my sisters house to open presents. I love buying for everyone..seeing them open gifts but we decided to only by for the kiddos this year. Before we reached her house my BIL decided to go get soda's. Now why the heck didn't they already have stuff since they knew we were coming days ago? So he takes an hour to get soda...and we open presents without him. He gets back and spends two minutes with us then goes into the kitchen to load the dishwasher and who knows what else. Again..what the heck?? We drive 3 hours to spend time with all of them and he does that? We all thought it was really rude. Dave, E and I play Wii for a little while. My other BIL is soooo bored with all of us you could tell he wanted out of there. My Mom takes off after about 20 minutes, my sister and BIL leave after maybe an hour. He kept saying to her we can stay if you want. But she does whatever he want..hell with her family. What happened to the days of playing cards..sitting around the table laughing?? I want those back dangit! We head over to FIL that night and his ex g/f is there. I can't believe he invites her over. This is the same woman he told to see other people. She supposedly stole a dress that belonged to my deceased MIL. He is also seeing a lady that he really likes...so why the heck ask this woman over when it should be family only. I couldn't have cared less if she was fine with just being his friend...but she is totally going to think that him having her there means he still wants her in his life. She thought he was going to marry her even after he told her that she should date other people! Then to top it off SIL isn't there. She spent Thanksgiving with her new b/f and spent Christmas there too. She said she was going to come back that weekend with him if she could get him to come to spend time with all of us. I knew that wasn't going to happen. I can't believe she just blows off her family like that. She is always the one driving 3 hours to see him..but he can't make the drive back to meet her family..let her spend some time with her brother and niece that she hasn't seen in 9 months? Then she goes on and on at her myspace page how she missed us and how much she loves S. Well now S has no clue what her Aunt even looks like. The poor kid thought Grandpa's friend was her Aunt! That's bad. Dave also brought up the trip my FIL is taking next year to visit his two sisters in Arizona. He said he was going in Feb. So Dave said make sure you keep the 14th open for S's birthday party. FIL said "Oh I won't be there..I am leaving around the 10th". I told dh that it's not like S's birthday changes every year! Ok..now maybe I shouldn't be upset by this. But the man is retired and so are his sisters. So why does he have to pick that time frame? He never ever comes up here to visit his granddaughter. He only sees her when we go to his house. Then he doesn't have much to do with her. I think he is kinda afraid to do to much with her. When she was a baby more times than not she would cry if gpa held her. I guess I just had this vision of my daughters grandparents and aunts and uncles wanting to spend a little time with her. I lost my Dad before Sarah was born and Dave lost his Mom before Sarah was born. So I really wanted the closeness with my daughter and her immediate family. My side can't spend enough time with her. My Mom would love nothing more than to be able to drive up here whenever she wanted and spend time with S. But she can't drive alone and gets tired easy. I don't doubt that the inlaws love her. But I wanted better for her. I always felt like my gparents didn't care that much about me. I was just another grandchild out of many. Well S is the ONLY grandchild on my husbands side and might be the only one he ever has. I guess I just have to come to the conclusion that she may never be close to her Grandfather or Aunt. Now Dave's brother is a totally different story. She loves him to pieces and he really loves her too. She will go to him immediatly and they will play together. He wants children of his own so bad. She will never be without love and for that I am greatful. I tend to spend time thinking about the what if's. What if my Dad was still alive? Or what if my MIL was still alive? Things would be different I'm sure. I needed to vent this...get it off my chest and hopefully get over my anger/disappointment. I figure it is their loss! She is such a loving and funny little girl and they are missing out on it! Other than that it was a good Christmas visit! LOL

Winter is here!

Long time again since my last post. I have been busy but who isn't with an active 2 1/2 year old? She is spending alot of time outside or wishing she was there. She made snow angels today. It was so cute! Sounds like tonight and tomorrow we are going to get more of the white stuff. We are full steam ahead in potty training. She is doing really well. I am very proud of her. I forgot all about bringing a change of clothes with us when we headed to Wal-Mart the other day. She did great. She told me on the way home that she needed to go, so I rushed us to the nearest fast food place. Took her inside and she didn't have to go. As soon as we got home she ran to the big potty and went. Not sure if she just didn't want to go or just didn't have to at that moment. She continues to amaze people who hear her talk. They can't believe she is only 2. She gets very chatty with the cashiers when we checkout. :o) We had our family Christmas pictures done last week. Sarah was a happy camper till they took us into the room. Oh my goodness did she become a pain when they started to take pics. They finally got her to laugh and smile so we got a few good ones. Afterwards while we were waiting she became the official greeter. LOL We got our Christmas tree up and it is huge. Poor thing needs more decorations but I can't reach the top. That and the dog chases the cat several times a day so they knock off all the lower ones. I just moved them up..so the bottom and top kinda match. LOL We are staying here for Christmas and heading to see our families on the 26th. I want Sarah to be able to enjoy her presents and not have to rush through opening them at 6am. I am sure it won't be too many years when 6am will be a norm on Christmas morning! If BIL had been out of the picture (long story if you don't know it) we would have gone to my sisters house Christmas Eve and spent the night there. It sounded so nice since she has a fireplace. My dream is to have a house big enough so that our family can stay with us and we all wake up on Christmas morning together. Seems like someone is always gone when we celebrate. Dh's sister is prob going to be spending Christmas with her new b/f. FIL talked about going to Arizona over the holiday's. I think if Dave had his way we would be heading to a warmer destination too! Anywho...I hope you have a wonderful Christmas spent with loved ones!!! I'll go ahead and wish you a Happy New Year too..cause I know it will be forever before I post again! LOL