Thanksgiving and the In-Laws

We went to my brothers for Thanksgiving. I wasn't really looking forward to going becuase my sister-in-laws entire family was going to be there.

They are a different sort of people. The oldest sister Sue is married to a member of the local school board. He is also a business owner, they build expensive houses and thinks the entire family is beneath he and his wife. Sue walks around with her nose up in the air and he looks down upon people whose homes are less than the ones he builds.

Melissa is the nice sister. She and I were in the band together in high school and I always thought she was a nice person. She and her husband have four kids, she is a stay at home Mom and he is a teacher. They don't have a lot of money, but they are happy with what they have.

Jennifer is the piece of work. At 31 she is on marriage number three. The first one lasted six months and the second, six weeks. I never met the first husband, but the second one was really nice. They lived together two years before the wedding, so I can't figure out why she couldn't be happy after the wedding. She married Billy this summer, and again, he is a wonderful guy. I asked my brother, Greg, how things were working out with Jen and Billy, Greg told me there were some rumors going around that things weren't too well. Billy has been traveling with his job and you know the saying, "when the cats away, the mice will play..." Apparently she has been doing some things that she shouldn't be doing. When they got married, my brother bought them power tools, so when they got divorced he would get something from the wedding. I honestly think that if things go South with Billy, the family will keep him and get rid of her. Greg says she's really two faced and would cut someone down any chance she gets.

There is another sister, Debbie, but she lives somewhere in Virginia and I have only ever met her once. Kelli seems to think she is gay - but who really cares if she is.

Now that you have the lowdown on the family, here's what happened...

My Mom went to Greg and Kelli's house on Wednesday to make the pies. She spent the night so she could help out with the turkey the next morning. When I talked to my Mom later, she said that she and Greg did everything - Kelli didn't lift a finger to help out.

Anyway, they were planning on eating around 4:00. Gordy and I got there at 2:00 and we were the only people there besides Greg, Mom and Kelli. They had a ton of snacks so we ate some and had some really good drinks. At 3:15 the only other person to arrive was my Dad.

I don't know about other families, but in mine, when there is a holiday dinner being prepared, we generally spend the whole day together.

Anyhooo, people started arriving at 3:45 to eat at 4:00. There were some people running a little late, so we ate at 4:30, which is not a big deal. When dinner was done and the dessert eat, Kelli's entire family started leaving. There was no sleeping on the couch watching a football game, no joking with each others bellies from the huge dinner - nothing... I thought this was the strangest holiday I have ever been a part of.