I've changed my mind.

What I meant was - "God bless us every one...except my in-laws"

Christmas Day was the usual round of fun and games; driving my kids to my BILs house in Long Island ALONE, since DH had to shuttle the MIL and the evil auntie around. Before my departure, DH says, "make sure you get something to eat on the way, I don't think you'll be eating". BIL and his family tend to eat dinner very late - like 8pm, and I'd planned to leave around 6:30 in order to brave the 2 hour ride home so that I can get the girls to bed somewhat close to their regular bedtime.

Which leads to another point: My BIL's household is a combination of many ethnicities - Puerto Rican, Polish, Irish, to name a few. As such, BIL and his wife both want to preserve the culinary traditions that they grew up with, which is great. Their Christmas dinner consisted of things such as prime rib w/yorkshire pudding, a turkey, eggplant parm, lasagna, pernil (roasted pork loin) and arroz con gandules (rice and peas). Also great. My point is: if you know you're making like SIX different dinners, do a little preparation!! Don't throw the prime rib into the oven at 2pm when your guests arrive!! Have a few things made up ahead that you can just heat up. Am I crazy here? If it were me, I would have been cooking for days before Christmas. By the end of the night, my BIL is stressed out and never gets to eat anything he cooks - which makes me wonder - why even bother if its such a pain in the ass? How about a vote for streamlining and simplifying??

So there I am, in a house that is not mine, and is not babyproofed. I spend my entire afternoon keeping an eye on the girls - DH "helps out" in between the beers and the cigarette breaks. I quietly tell him that I need more help from him, I'm dripping in sweat and stressed out, can he just sit still and watch them with me? At this point, Dr. D. had already spilled over a potted plant, a can of soda, and was fascinated with chewing on electrical cords. I get attitude in return. He doesn't get that spending the holidays with relatives IS NOT relaxing; its WORK. Especially when you have two toddlers who are naturally curious and want to get into EVERYTHING.

I left at 7:30 pm - I managed to get some lasagna before leaving - and everyone wanted to know why I was leaving! Why couldn't we just stay? Because I don't feel like trying to get two overtired, overstimulated toddlers to bed at midnite maybe? As it was I got home after 10pm, the roads were awful due to torrential rains. DH didn't leave Long Island until past 10:30 and he was home by midnite.

The next day I start to hear the talking. The talking of people with heads up their asses who know NOTHING about me, my kids, or our life. How DH and I are "overprotective", our kids "live in a bubble" and we don't allow them to "be kids". hmmmm. Do tell. This from my BILs and their wives who, in my opinion know less about parenting after TEN years of it than I know in my two years. DH explains to the BILs about how important structure and routine are in a house with multiples, he tells them about our daily Early Intervention therapy to help the girls with their development, and finally he tells them that if they have constructive suggestions as opposed to just idle criticism to please speak up.

The last time I was in Long Island, my nephew (who is only a few months older than my kids) fell head first down a flight of stairs because no one was watching him. Is that "letting him be a kid"? On Christmas day, there was a deep fat fryer with a turkey in it on a table in the living room, and a pan of boiling hot oil from the run-off also on the table. Dr. D. was fascinated with it, and kept trying to grab it. Should I have let her dump hot oil on her head, and then while I was in the ER with her, I could console myself with the fact that I let her "be a kid?" WTF?! I got on the phone absolutely furious and told my BIL that unless he's walked a mile in my shoes, he is in no place to offer any criticism. period.

Now New Year's Eve is upon us. The evil auntie is coming to stay with us on New Year's eve. She's footing the bill for an extravagant feast - filet mignon, stuffed lobster tails and the like. However, auntie is 300+ pounds and as such, will be sleeping in my bed. Did she really think that by bribing me with a nice cut of beef I'd be able to ignore the fact that I'm ringing in 2006 on the floor of my living room on an air mattress? I'm going out to buy a couple of bottles of champagne because I'm not going to be able to get through the night without getting loaded. If this is any indication as to how the rest of my year is going to go, I think I should off myself now.

In other news, S. got sick this week. It started with a fever, and now she's on antibiotics. Which of course means that (1) she won't get her RSV shot on Monday and (2) Dr. D. will no doubt be next to get sick. Stay tuned.

Wish I had a more hopeful message for the New Year other than my usual rants. I'm starting to think maybe I need to be medicated. No. really. Here's the Friday Fiver, enjoy and I'll see ya after the New Year!

1. How will you be ringing in the New Year? - See above. UGH.
2. How do you wish you were ringing in the New Year? - Just me, DH and the kids. A quiet night.
3. Do you have any traditions that you observe on New Year's Day intended to bring you luck for the upcoming year? - not luck, no. But at midnite, I dump out a cup of water, signifying all the tears I've cried this year - I got it from Danielle and her mom (God bless ya Char!)
4. Do you make resolutions? - NO Do you keep them? - No, that's why I don't do it.
5. Would you ever have plastic surgery? - Don't think so. I've watched too many "plastic surgery gone wrong" shows.