Family

I do no planning for Thanksgiving. I am “that guy” that shows up, eats (not very much) watches the game and goes home. We always goto my parent’s best friends house for Thanksgiving. It usually is a big turn out. I don’t have to travel to it. It is only in Queens. I guess that is some travel. I don’t need to plan on anything. Everything is taken care of.

it is not the most glamorous night of the year. We are probably the average Thanksgiving Day “family”. The only thing out of the ordinary we do is, we don’t have a formal sit down meal. It is usually buffet. There are allot of us.

Other planning news is I hope to take off Wednesday. I need a day off, and this way if I take Wednesday off I get a whopping 5 days off in a row. that will be nice. I won’t know what to do with myself. Really, I have no idea what to do with that much time off and no travel.

I had a play date today.  I went to my sisters (AKA Morgan’s Mommy) for dinner.  They are going to Florida tomorrow to see the grandparents, so I wanted to see them before they went.  Kids have a way about making you not want to leave them.  All night morgan wanted me to play with her.  My parents were over, and she usually gravitates towards my dad, but all she wanted was for me to read to her.  I think I read He bear, she bear like 20 times in a row.  It was very funny.  But I figured if she wanted to sit still on the couch next to me for a while reading, who was I to complain.  She showed me her dancing monkey.  that was cute.  She also vacuumed for me.

That kid was in rare form.  She was not stingy with the hugs and kisses either.  Some visits you have to beg steal and borrow to get 1 hug from that little girl.  Not today.  I know I am not impartial, but that kid is fantastic.  So funny, and fun to play with.

My parents came over and we all had dinner.  My sister (Morgan’s Mommy, as Morgan likes to call her) packed.  I wont see them for a week or so until they get back.

I went to my cousin Arielle’s birthday party today. Well it wasn’t a birthday party really. She had her friends over for a sleep over party last week. This week was the family getting together. Now that is always an interesting thing. I took an early afternoon train out to New Jersey. I got picked up by my cousin Synde and her mom, my aunt Marian. We did some shopping for the party and headed to Synde’s house. I got there early. I didn’t mind. it gave me time to catch up with Synde, Wayne and the kids. Cerina (cannot spell any of their kids names correctly) is getting so big. She is such a barrel of laughs. Arielle is grown up also. She is 9 as of this week. I remember holding her in my arms as a baby when Synde and Wayne moved into their house. I feel old. Merric is getting big, but I am used to that now, so it is not as crazy for me.

Synde had 2 of her sisters over and their family’s for the party. Shelly and Samia. Shelly caused a huge problem by bringing Arielle a rabbit for her birthday. Now that side of my family can be flaky at times, but who brings pets to a kids party without asking the parents first? Wayne was like we can’t keep it. He was right, but Arielle was upset for the rest of the day, and Synde and Wayne were pissed at Shelly for the incident for the day.

Besides the people over I mentioned, Wayne had his “other” cousin Scott and family over. Shelly & Gill’s kids were over, along with Samia’s kids. Conspicuously absent where my parents and Samia’s husband. I am not sure what is up with my parents. They used to almost live at Synde & Wayne’s house, and now they have (in my opinion) bad excuses not to show up. It is very noticeable, to everyone but that is the way it is. My parents both have trouble with long car trips, but I really don’t think they make an effort anymore. There I said it. I have been holding that one back for a while. if my mom ever figures out the internet enough to read this site, I think she knows my opinion already.

Besides the rabbit incident I had a great time. I like seeing my cousin’s but I don’t like large or even small family gatherings. So I am usually low key at these things, but I do enjoy seeing my family. This is the group of people I have the oldest memories of.

I don’t get to see the family as much as I like. I need to get out to see Synde and the kids more. Our schedules are always crazy, and I am lazy. I am going to make an effort to get out sometimes before the holiday.

Right now I am on NJ Transit on my way back to NY Penn Station. Wayne gave me a lift to the train. Once I get to Penn I hope to get a cab home and get some sleep. I am tired, and I have about an hour till I get home.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention that Arielle got mad at me after she played with my Treo. Turns out I should have had her name in my contact list even though she doesn’t have a phone. She was not too happy that her brother had an entry and she did not. She corrected the problem and promptly returned the phone after she took some pictures. Man that kid makes me laugh!

Tonight is daylight savings time change. I need to remember to change my watch before I goto bed. At least I gain an hour of sleep tonight…

I didn’t really break my fasting since I didn’t fast, but it was still nice to see all the friends and family. We went to Amy, Jared, and Riley’s house. Got to see Morgan for the second time in two days so I was happy. The usual suspects were there. My parents, carrie, mike, Chery, David, their kids, nieces and nephews, and their kids, etc. It was nice to see them since I missed them last week on the second night of the new year. I spent that on a plane.

I got a ride back to the city with Carrie & Morgan. Carrie is going upstate with her sister in law loren and her husband andrew tomorrow, so she is staying over in the city. Andrew took Carrie’s truck and drove me home. Saved me from catching a cab. Ms Morgan was not wanting to sleep so they probably are having a grand old time getting her to lie down now.

It is a small world. Turns out that Andrews friend is high up in a volunteer EMS squad in the city. I am just taking the EMT class, but he said to get in touch with him so I can get an application in and become a member before I pass my test.

Today is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. I am not a very religious person, but when you say it is the most holy day of the year even I stop for a minute. It is a day where you are supposed to atone for your sins and fast. I am not a big fan of temple. I get that from my dad. So we don’t go. I don’t fast since I don’t like getting migraine headaches. If I don’t eat for an entire day I will get one, so I have to eat. I am told that it is ok if you have a medical reason, so I feel guilty for eating but not that guilty.

People who know me laugh when I leave early for the religious holidays. The reason is as I said, I am not very religious. But not believing and not observing are two different things. I may believe in the religion I happen to be born into, but I don’t find it necessary to spend time observing it in an organized fashion.

Wow, that was deep. Don’t expect that kind of somber writing too often. I promise the next post will be some nonsensical post about some dumb-ass at work or some cool technical thing I am doing.

I spent most of the day today with my niece Morgan. My sister had tickets to a concert so I baby sat and my parents came over. We all went to dinner and then I watched her till my sister and brother in law got back from the concert. That kid is so much fun to be with. She just finds new ways to crack me up.

I am not so happy about being alone with Morgan. I am always afraid I will break her in some way. What if she cries and I can’t make her stop crying? What if I don’t understand what she is asking for? If she was older it would be easer. I am just being nervous, I know. Either way I still have fun with her, but I am just nervous when no one else is around that she will be ok. She went to bed relatively quick. She was not happy about sleep time, but once she was down she fell right to sleep.

Mike and my sister just came to get her. I am now off to sleep myself. Man it is getting late…