Family and the Holiday Season

Happy Thanksgiving!

The holidays are here. Are you ready?

Thirty-four years ago yesterday, November 25th, 1989. What a day. It was my first time cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. I was eight and a half months pregnant with my second child. My in-laws were there. My sister-in-law and her husband came too. My Thanksgiving dinner was PERFECT. My father-in-law started to carve the turkey, and it just fell apart. I was proud of my accomplishment. The dinner was delicious. From then on, I cooked Thanksgiving Dinner, and my mother-in-law hosted Christmas Dinner. Surrounded by family, I was feeling blessed and happy. It was a great day. But that wasn’t the best part of the day.

After everyone had gone home, I started the cleanup from my fabulous dinner. I felt a twinge. I had this feeling before — the first time I was pregnant. I knew it was a contraction. I didn’t think much about it. I was tired, and I was on my feet all day. I put my son to bed, snuggled into my jammies, and sat down to relax.

Later that night came another twinge, except this one was a little tighter. I decided to call my doctor to let him know. He was out of town for the long weekend, and I spoke with another doctor. He asked when I was due. December, three weeks. He said, “It sounds like Braxton-hicks. Do you have any wine in the house? Take a sip of wine, and that should calm them down.” “Wine, I don’t drink.” He giggled, “I’m not telling you to down a bottle. Take a tiny sip.” As it turned out, I had wine for the dinner. I took my tiny sip and went to bed.

It was about eleven that night when the contractions woke me up, and they were strong. I called the doctor again. He said to go in and meet me at the hospital. My husband called his mom. Thankfully, his parent’s house was on the way, so we dropped off our son and headed to the hospital.

I explained the situation to the nurse. I’m too early. I’m not due for another three weeks. Nurses the way they do, “Well, let’s see what’s going on.” She smiled. “Oh, no honey, you’re dilated to five. You are in labor.” Four hours later, this tiny baby boy came into the world, weighing five pounds and two ounces. The nurse holding him was walking backward, and she said they would let me hold him, but he was not breathing. I watched them circle this little guy. All of them were working to get him to take his first breath. It was only a few minutes. All of a sudden, in the middle of this circle of doctors and nurses, a stream came shooting so high it was above their heads; he pissed on all of them. They all jolted back, and one said, “He’s breathing now!” I laughed. That tiny little human could pee like that!

Thirty-four years ago, Andrew came into this world on November 26th at 2:24 am. We didn’t get to bring him home for a while. He spent his first eight days in the NICU. It felt strange going home without my child. Every day, twice a day, we would go to the hospital to see our tiny newborn baby. We got to feed him, hold him, and talk to the nurses about his progress. One night, while we were there, the night nurse was changing his diaper. And, as soon as she pulled the front of the diaper back, he peed on her. It was funny. She said, “Oh, I’ve heard about you.” He pissed on every nurse that changed his diaper. Thanksgiving will always be about the year my son, Andrew, was born.

All my kids are holiday babies. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. When the holidays rolled around, my stress level went up for many years! Now they are very quiet.

I can’t believe I have a son who is thirty-four! Yikes. And he’s a father himself. I didn’t see him today; he was out of town spending the Thanksgiving holiday and his birthday with his daughter.

My childhood family Thanksgiving dinners were spent at my aunt’s house. As an adult living in a different state than my mother, we couldn’t spend the holidays together. She worked every holiday, and my parents were no longer together, which happens as we go through life. Holidays are spent in different ways for most people. Life evolves.

Family. My world. Family is important to me. As your children become adults and live their own lives, families start to find getting together for the holidays a little more complicated. With life comes changes and new traditions or none at all. I’ve met people who have stated the holidays are not that big of a deal for them. It’s okay. That makes the time you do have with family all that more special. Spending any time of year with family means more to me than the holidays. I’m just not as interested in the holiday season nowadays.

One thing about full-time RV life is that you see family less. But, with the ability to travel, we can go to them. I’ll see my kids next month, and we’ll have the time to all get together for a family dinner. For me, this is a special time to see them. That makes a happy, thankful momma.

Have a great week!