It poured rain most of yesterday and was extremely windy all day. I didn�t mind, really. Heck, it�s December now. It could�ve snowed instead. But it didn�t. And that�s a good thing. I do have snow tires on my car now, though. I hoped to get to the dealership about that deal they�ve got going on before I switched the tires, but it just didn�t work out that way. Looks like we�ll head to the dealership on Saturday. And if I end up driving out of there with an �05, it won�t be without my snow tires. I won�t leave without them. People around here think I�m nuts putting snow tires on my car every year. I think they�re crazy for panicking and buying every last morsel in the grocery store every time the weatherman predicts snow.
I dug out my �John Denver & The Muppets � A Christmas Together� CD yesterday morning. I�ve got more than my share of Christmas CD�s, but this one is the most special. The physical CD itself isn�t, but the music is. I loved the Muppets as a kid. Well� okay� I still love them. My brother bought the vinyl album for me when it first came out, which is why it�s so special to me. Somehow my family tolerated me listening to it over and over and over. My mother wasn�t particularly thrilled with some of the songs on it because they�re New Age and earthy, but I think she still got a kick out of it, anyway. Over the past few years I�ve found myself tearing up a lot when I listen to it. It conjures up so many good memories and when I compare them to how my siblings and I get along now, it saddens me. So many things have changed since then, which is normal, but I wish we still got along as well now as we did growing up. I barely know my brother now, or his family. He and my sister haven�t spoken in years. My brother doesn�t celebrate Christmas anymore, stating the Bible doesn�t say Christ was born in December. He thinks we�re crazy because we converted to Catholicism and thinks we�re deceived. He�s a little fanatical. His wife has changed him in so many ways, and I don�t feel the majority of them were for the better. But I won�t say anything more about her right now. Mom reminds me even now that if I don�t have anything nice to say, to not say anything at all.
*sigh*
Yes, Mom.
Well, D�s brother and sister-in-law are separated. Have been since September. We found out about it just last week. She called last week to invite us to Thanksgiving dinner (a little late, but thanks anyway) and when I called her back to thank her for the invite (even though I was still miffed at her for blowing an email of mine off in early October) and let her know we were heading to NY she told me about the separation. I told D if he wanted to change plans and go there instead, my parents would certainly understand, but he decided under the circumstances it�d probably be best to let just his parents and brother go to his brother�s house for Thanksgiving dinner. I was inclined to agree.
Unfortunately I�m not surprised they�re separated. I�ve mentioned before she�s a very self-centered girl. And I emphasize the world girl. She�s no woman, I can tell you that. If she were, she�d realize she�s partially at fault for what�s going on, try to change some things about herself instead of expecting him to do all the changing, and put a little fight into trying to keep her marriage going. Oh, and being a good mother might help, too. When I talked with her last week, she put the separation entirely on his shoulders. In her eyes, she�s done nothing wrong. She�s claimed for quite some time he never spends time with the kids, which is a joke because the second he�d get home from work, she�d go out clubbing and not come home until the wee hours of the morning. He�d have to wake her up in the morning before he left for work so she�d be up with the kids, and most of the time she�d make them lay back down or just plop them in front of the TV because she had a hangover and didn�t want to get out of bed. When we all went up to the beach this past July, she was there for maybe a total of 12 hours, and 8 of them were spent sleeping. The kids were with us at the beach the entire week, and let me tell you, I think D�s brother is a darn good dad. It�s my opinion that she�s not fit to raise those children on her own.
Something she said last week really struck me as odd. She said she was surprised that D�s parents weren�t treating her any differently. D�s brother is living with his parents at the moment, btw, but still paying all the bills and supporting her and the kids. I�d tell her to join reality and get a job. She hasn�t worked pretty much since they�ve been married. Must be nice. Anyway, I was surprised that she thought D�s parents would give her the cold shoulder. They are two of the kindest, most generous people I�ve ever known in my life. One of D�s uncles said that someone could hit D�s dad up the side of the head with a shovel and he�d politely turn around and ask if they wanted to hit him on the other side. They�ve turned the other cheek so many times with her. We all have, but many have stopped. I don�t know how his parents do it. I really don�t.
So Christmas, imo, is still a little up in the air. We were hoping to spend Christmas Eve with D�s parents, stay overnight and then go to his grandmother�s with them Christmas morning, but with his brother staying with them now, it�d be a little weird. I was talking with one of D�s aunt�s earlier in the week, though, and she told me we should anyway. She thinks it would be a good distraction for them. D and I will have to talk about it a little more and decide what to do.
Well, I just realized the time. I've got tons more to write but need to get ready for work.
Have a great day. :-)
