and I have a confession, it will be the first Thanksgiving I will spend apart from my family of origin. See, although I have been married for six years and with my husband for nearly 8 years we have always spent Thanks giving separate or with my family. This was partly due to the fact that his family didn't really have a set Thanksgiving plan when we first got together and partly because my family was closer, and party (ok maybe mostly) because I wanted to. But for the past couple of years Brother Bear and the Costa Ricans have been doing Thanksgiving at their place. Last year all of Bear's family (except him) were present at that celebration and he made me promise that this year we would have an honest discussion about splitting our holiday time between the two locations. Unfortunately, they are far enough apart that both is not an option. So this year rolled around and he announced that he was going up north for Thanksgiving and I was to come with him. At first I thought ok... I really owe this to him. But then the reality of all I would miss out on hit me... I was sitting at Grandma Dinner (every Sunday night my family takes my grandmother out to dinner) and C-Ham asked about the plan for Black Friday. I was nearly in tears on the way home thinking that I was going to miss out on this annual tradition with my brother. So I made a plan that involved going up North for Wednesday evening and Thursday and returning on Thursday night (late) to be able to shop with C-Ham on Friday. Bear hated it. He wanted to spend the whole weekend with his family. I can't blame him but I was upset. See he was all ready asking me to give up Rose's first Thanksgiving with our family, on a year where lots has changed and my mother won't be able to do the Thanksgiving cooking and now he was asking me to give up shopping with my brother on Friday. It was too much and I revolted. I told him I wasn't going. He could go, I would stay, my family needed me... I would cook Thanksgiving dinner with them on Thursday, I would go shopping with my brother on Friday and I would come up to spend the rest of the weekend with him after I was good and done with my shopping. He reluctantly agreed (after a lot of [probably deserved] grief). So I triumphantly informed my family at the next Grandma Dinner... Guess What... I won't be gone after all... I will save the day. Now I can't say they weren't a little happy, but they weren't well ecstatic... in fact my mother was really quite concerned that I wouldn't be spending the holiday with Bear. And then reality sank in. I was being selfish, I had made a promise, and I needed to grow up and go with Bear to his family Thanksgiving. So I am headed up North today... it will be great. I am actually pretty excited about it, it just took my a little longer to get there than maybe it should have! :) Also Bear promised to go Black Friday shopping with me so that should be interesting... Wish me luck!
Ahhh, the dreaded holiday split... I know it well. It gets even worse once you have kids. Thankfully, our families have been willing to work around everyone's schedules, so we usually celebrate both holidays with each family. This year, we are doing Thursday with my family and the weekend at the in-law's house. Maybe next year you guys can do. Something like that, so you can spend time with both families? Have a wonderful holiday!
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