But they made such a big stink about it and were so adamant about hosting Thanksgiving this year, that we gave in. We didn't really agree. We just didn't argue with them.
Months and months in advance, we usually start talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas; start figuring out who's going to host which and what not. This year, silence. No one wanted to bring it up. No one said a word. We'd talk amongst ourselves, but no one really wanted to know. My aunt and uncle Cris didn't bring it up and no one brought it up to them.
We were divided in opinion. I personally thought that if they were really going to host Thanksgiving, then they would have confirmed it and given everyone details. So the fact that they hadn't said a peep about it was their way of getting out of it. My Godmother, on the other hand, thought the opposite; that they would have spoken up if they weren't going to host it anymore, but since they'd made a stink about it last year, they were definitely hosting it.
Either way, no one wanted to be the one to ask. No one wanted to be the person to call and ask and make sure they were hosting Thanksgiving. We were stuck in a waiting game.
Mom thought we should just wait until the day of and if they called and said come over, then we'd go over, but if they didn't call, well then, we'd all just stay at our own houses. I didn't like this plan. It left the door wide open for problems. Especially if they had every intention of hosting and didn't think they needed to call and confirm, and then no one shows up - imagine the scandal that would've caused.
So I was the one that had the balls to call them. The week before Thanksgiving, after days of my Godmother chickening out, I called my uncle and confirmed Thanksgiving was at their house. And then everyone got mad at me for calling because no one really wanted to go to their house. Not like I was looking forward to it. Ever since the initial argument last year, I had said I wasn't going; that I had to work. But I sucked it up all for the "family."
Yeah, ask me if that didn't come back to smack me in the face.
I was unaware of certain things that had happened until the end of the evening, but still the time spent was not very pleasant. It was hot inside the house and thus, I was hot and sweaty; not a good thing. I spent most of the night fawning over the little ones; first my cousin's twin boys (she's pregnant again btw, due April 20), then my Goddaughter and niece, then my other niece and my newborn niece (she'll be 5 months tomorrow). I tried to take photos, even took both of my cameras, but it was hard to do while carrying one of the twins. I'd try passing him to others, but then he'd start crying and would only settle down when I took him back. (awwww) Honestly, though, my heart hasn't really been in taking photos anymore. I'm almost only doing it because it's expected, not because I really want to. Towards the end of the night, I handed my camera over to my 6 year old niece and sent her to take photos until the battery ran out. She had fun. :)
Unfortunately, the biggest offense of the evening was not discovered until the end of the night when we were getting ready to leave. Our family tradition has always been that each family cooks a meal, and we always take the turkey and traditional side dishes. No matter who's hosting, we always do the turkey and this year was no different. My sister spent all day cooking everything from scratch; and she didn't even want to go to Thanksgiving dinner at my uncle and aunt's house, but she did.
When we arrived for dinner, we discovered that my aunt had also made a turkey. She said that as the hostess, it was her job to make the turkey. BULLSHIT!
My mom tried to arrange everything we took, but was kicked out of the kitchen by my aunt and uncle. She was told to relax and that they'd take care of things. Before agreeing to leave the kitchen, though, my mom handed them everything and told them everything we had taken. When dinner was served, we noticed that our plates did not contain anything we had taken, but that was ok because maybe it'd gone to others.
When it was time to leave and my mom and sister went into the kitchen to retrieve tupperware containers and take leftovers, they saw that everything we had taken was thrown in a corner and completely untouched. They had cut into the turkey we took, but only because the turkey my aunt had made was too small and not enough for our big family. But everything else was on the floor in a corner. My aunt claims she thought it was a diaper bag, but she's full of shit. My mom handed it to her; we're the only f'ing family that doesn't have babies - how could she even think it was a diaper bag?!?!?!
To say my sister was pissed would be an understatement. She practically pushed mom out of the house and made sure nothing we had taken was left behind, as well as making sure that we didn't bring any leftovers from anybody else. My uncle walked out to the car and my sister did not hesitate and unleashed her fury on him.
She won't return to their house. She refuses to go to another family event hosted at their house. And if you thought I was stubborn and could hold a grudge, you haven't met my sister. She's ten times worse than me. She doesn't hold her tongue for even a second. At least I know when to shut up and go with the flow, out of respect for my mother, but my sister will let you have it. When she unleashed on my uncle, he said nothing. He never responds when called on something.
During the toast that night, my aunt had said they wanted to host Christmas as well, even though my uncle Jose was already scheduled to host. To make matters worse, my uncle Jose said he was not going to deny it to them because he didn't want to cause problems. But in ceding Christmas to them, he assured a division in the family would occur. My sister won't go to their house and since it's Christmas, we're not going to spend it without my sister, so that means we're not going to spend Christmas with the family, we'll be on our own. When we told our uncle Jose that we wouldn't be going to their house, he said if we didn't go, then he wouldn't go either.
As far as I know, we're not spending Christmas with the family, which means I'm saving a heck of a lot of money now that I don't have to buy them all presents. Of course, I probably will buy presents for all except my aunt and uncle Cris' family.
My Godmother came over last night and I told her everything, as she was unaware of what had happened, and now they're trying to salvage Christmas and the family.
There's only one problem: you can't salvage anything if the problem at hand is not addressed.
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