We left for Master's family and had a family event there on Sunday (Dec 19). It was their bake-off. Everyone in the family bakes something to bring. It was a nice time. Sugar overload for sure though. We spent several days there before getting on the plane to go to Minnesota to visit my family.
Master had met my parents, but no one else in my family and He got introduced to everyone the very first night we were there. Even got introduced to a few family dramas right away (such as my sister being late for dinner).
We have a tradition of going out to eat with my aunts and uncles to a very nice (read expensive) restaurant. So that first night is where Master was introduced to everyone. It was a good food, but not worth the price to me. But it was nice to see everyone.
Then one night we had dinner at my Uncle's and Aunt's house. And then a cousin of my Mom's that I have good memories of was also there with her husband for dinner. So it was nice to catch up with her a little bit. One of my cousins (from my Dad's side)and her family came into town just to see Master and I. That was very nice of them. Her and I were very close when growing up. We are close in age and just spent a lot of time together as kids. Her kids are adorable. It was good to see them all.
Then on Christmas day we had a different day but it was still nice. We had fondue. Usually we have prime rib and some Norwegian traditional food. But this year my Aunt decided we should do something different. It was really good, but kind of hard to do with so many people. But again it was just nice to be with everyone.
While in Minnesota we shopped of course. We went to the Mall of America. I thought Master would just like to experience it at least once. And He really did love it and I think when we visit again He might even want to go there again.
There was one store we went into looking for something for His parent's. We found them something right away and so we picked up and checked out. As we were leaving with present in the bag we saw this little snowman so we went back and got that. We joked with the clerks that we can't get out of the store. We even said we are leaving now. So on the way out...guess what....we saw a Santa in a sleigh we saw earlier in another store. But it was half off in this store. It is fairly large piece and regularly priced it was quite expensive. So seeing it 50% off Master said we should get it. It will look really good on top of the entertainment cabinet next year for Christmas. So we checked out again. The clerks joked with that they like people like us and to keep looking. But we just kept our eyes on the door after that!
We had an intense conversation with my sister at lunch that day. She is a lesbian and we talked about Mom and Dad not accepting her. She started crying. And when anyone cries I have to join them. And so I started crying too. It was hard to hear the things she was telling us. I might have a religion rant soon because I just am so irritated with organized religion right now. It irritates me that they teach hate even though of course they would say they don't.
The last night there Master took lots of pictures of my sisters and I. We had what we called a Senior picture moments. We were all posed in cutesy ways that you would do when you had your senior pictures. But they actually turned out very cute. And my sister who absolutely hates having her picture taken even liked a few. And she never does so that says something. Master did great working with us three.
It is a catch 22 living far from my family...because I miss them, but at the same time I love the freedoms Master and I enjoy with not having family near us. I wish I could be closer (distance) to them so that I felt more apart of things like I once did. But as I said at the same time I don't want that. I love having our alone time. And I love that we don't live near family so we don't have to worry about being outed by them just dropping in on us.
This trip felt very rushed and busy. I wished for more quality time with my sisters and Mom and Dad. We seemed to either have lots of family events or my parents were busy. So it was kind of an unusual Christmas for us.
Master seemed to get the essence of our family though even though it was a lot more chaotic then years past.
Christmas is about spirit in our family and I am not necessarily meaning religious spirit even though my folks are very religious. But family and celebrating together is important to our family. Being together to talk and just be with each other is important. The spirit of our family is important.
This year my Mom seemed to very stressed though. And with due cause my Grandmother had surgery on the 27th and everyone was quite worried about it as my Grandmother is 88 years old. Combine that with some pre-holiday parties and family get togethers my Mom did not get all her usual holiday preparations done. So I know she felt bad about that. Also she was not feeling well.
But all in all it was good to see my family and have Christmas with them. My sisters and parents went overboard with presents as usual. We ended up having to buy another suitcase and still did not get everything in...Mom is sending me a box of stuff I could not fit into the bags.
When we got back to Master's parents we were hit with some bad news. Master's niece was diagnosed with cancer. She is a freshman in college. She is a quiet, shy girl and college seemed to be good for her and now she will have to drop out for now to do treatments. It was hard to hear and it is going to be a hard road but her spirit has been amazing. She is a very brave young woman. Master and I did up a care package/basket for her since we were not able to see her as we had been exposed to many sick people in Minnesota and her chemo will be wearing on her immune system so we did not want to expose her to anything right now. She needs her strength.
Things at Master's parents are always a little hard. My parents give a lot of space to me when I visit and this time was not different even though we had family events there is no pressure in them. At Master's parents there seems to be pressure to be there and be doing something. Anyway, we were discussing it while there, out to dinner with some friends and also on the way home that it is hard to be around family.
While we were at Master's parents we went to see some friends that live in the area. And I know that probably did not make Master's parents thrilled. But had a great time with our friends. It is a pleasure to be with them and I always hate when we have to end the evening. They are a great couple that I have talked about before. I always enjoy their company such wonderful people.
We headed home then on December 31. We seemed to hit it at a good time not running into much weather or traffic from the skiers. After we got home, we went to the post office and then to get a few groceries to get us through for a while. And also picked up some alcohol. We spent the evening watching TV (catching up on West Wing that we record from Bravo), snuggling, having fabulous sex, playing games, eating and drinking. We kissed at midnight toasting with pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Yummy!
This weekend has been lots of relaxing before Master heads to work and I head into getting the house back in order.
No comments:
Post a Comment