Thanksgiving With The Family

So every year my family gets together and we all make Thanksgiving dinner together. My dad makes the turkey, my mom makes the stuffing, my husband the mashed potatoes, I make a dessert and a signature dish (I'm not going to say what it is), and my brother always makes an appetizer. We all pitch in on whatever else needs to be made, green beans, rolls, corn, gravy, etc; basically whoever has a free hand grabs the next thing that needs to be made and makes it. Well of course The Bitch tried to help, but she would start something, complain about having to make it and that she didn't know how to make it, and then whines until my brother does it for her (she claims she has been trained as a chef, but if she has been trained as a chef I would think the school she went to did a really shitty job). This year we gave her the simple task of putting cocktail sausages in a pot with bbq sauce and heat them up, simple enough a monkey could do it. The complaining begins about how the sausages smell bad, the package wouldn't open, the pot was too big, the bbq sauce isn't the one she likes (she picked it out by the way). Eventually my brother steps in and does it all for her. She then complains when none of us eat them. My dad and I are both diabetics and can't eat the bbq sauce filled with sugar, my mom and I both don't eat a lot of meat, and my husband and I refuse to eat anything The Bitch makes (I'm convinced she will try to poison us all, or at the very least give us food poisoning).

At the end of the meal it is tradition in our household that my parents relax while I put the food away, my husband washes the dishes, my brother dries, and I put the dishes away. This year The Bitch was supposed to help my brother dry the dishes, but began to complain after doing a half ass job of drying one dish that her back hurt and she was tired, so my brother gave in and told her to watch the kid while he finished the dishes. On the way out she dropped a glass pan in the dish water splashing me and getting water all over the floor, now I'm allergic to bleach and that's why I don't handle the dishes until they are dry and The Bitch knows this (she has complained in the past that I never wash dishes), needless to say I broke out in a very painful rash across my arms and chest where the bleach splashed on me. I know she did it on purpose but my brother and parents took her side and said it was an accident.

While the turkey cooks every year my parents and I watch The Macys Thanksgiving day parade and then watch the original version of Miracle on 34th Street (my dads favorite Christmas movie), my husband sleeps in because he works the night before and doesn't get in until 1 or 2 in the morning. Last year my brother and The Bitch didn't show up until right before the food was served so our tradition went uninterrupted, but this year however they showed up right as the parade came on. The Bitch sat right in the middle of the room and talked as loud as she could through the entire parade (I turned up the volume three separate times and she just continued to get louder). When she wasn't talking she was screaming a the kid to stop doing things, or yelling at my brother to do something or get her something. My husband who was trying to sleep in the other room was woken by her and finally gave up on sleep and joined us to watch the rest of the parade. Miracle on 34th street was not put on because The Bitch didn't like the movie and wanted to watch something else (my dad appeased her and put on a movie my brother had brought), she talked through the entire movie, and none of us have no idea if the movie was any good or not.

The only peace my parents, my husband, and I got during the entire day (other than when they finally went home for the night) was when my mom sent them to the local store to get a few things she had forgotten. She sent them with $50 to get maybe $30 worth of groceries, and they came back with no change and barely half the stuff my mom asked for. I went out the next day and bought my mom the rest of the stuff she was needing so she wouldn't have to go out and face the crowds of black friday shoppers (all of which I paid for with my own money). If you think my brother and The Bitch taking what was left of the money my mom sent them to get groceries was bad just wait... they asked for $50 for gas as they were leaving! (And no they don't need that much in gas, $30 max would fill up their car for a week).

I told my parents that they shouldn't give them any money for anything, my brother makes almost twice what my mom makes (and she makes enough to keep a family of four going), yet somehow every week they ask for money for something. On thanksgiving the first thing out of The Bitches mouth was that they needed money for rent (they live in a trailer that is for low income families, so their rent is really low, I'm not sure on the exact amount but I know its around $450/month). My dad of course gave them the money and they told him they would pay him back (they have borrowed money from my parents and claimed they would pay them back so many times that they owe my parents over $5000). On top of that they wanted to buy a car from my aunt (who is trying to sell it for her brother to earn some income for his housing and medical bills, which is another story entirely), but my parents told them they couldn't because my brothers credit was ruined (because The Bitch racked up my brother credit card debt and then they didn't pay the bills) and because my brother wouldn't keep up the payments to my aunt if they had to pay directly to her. The Bitch threw a fit and my dad finally gave in and said he would buy the car from his sister (my aunt) and my brother could give him the payments on the car. I doubt my parents will ever get a payment from my brother for the car (with all they money my brother already owes them do you blame for me thinking they will never see a dime?).

I told my husband that if all this kind of stuff happens at Christmas I wasn't going to be able to do holidays with my parents anymore as long as they invite The Bitch over. I hate to leave my parents to deal with her on their own, but there is only so much I can take. I would rather spend the holidays with husband and our cats in peace at our own house and invite my parents up at a later date and do gift exchange and a dinner.

Hope your Thanksgiving was better than mine.