Holiday Wrap Up

And so my first Christmas and New Years, living back with my parents has come and gone. I have not gone crazy from being around them all the time and no family members have been mortally wounded by me...yet.

Haha, no, this holiday season went really well. The constant family and friend affairs have made 1.5 weeks feel like 1 month. My two brothers made their way back to the family house and stayed over for a few days each. It was nice to see them, although I'll admit that I was a little awkward since I have no points from which to relate to them. My middle-brother made that clear when he called me an insensitive dickface, which is only a half-truth: I'm only insensitive sometimes, towards mostly family members... Even so, I was genuinely disappointed that we didn't get a chance to play our traditional game of Monopoly or Risk, since both my brothers were busy with their girlfriends, who are also pretty awesome.

I love seeing my Grandmother - she's always so cute and nice to talk to. She's 93, with a mind as sharp as a laser and a tongue to match. I wish my Mom wouldn't treat her like a little child though - she's is very capable on her own. I kind of think that the family friends that we traditionally visit/visits us during the holidays are actually only really want to see Grandma, which is fine with me because I HATE having to fake mild interest in them.

We all got some really cool and thoughtful gifts from one-another this year. I may have my problems with my family, but I always have fun putting effort into my presents because I really like finding something that they'll appreciate. One exception to this present rule is my Dad: he doesn't care what we get him, nor does he care about what he gives. Beyond work, golf and curling he doesn't care about much - which is fine all year long - but at Christmas I always feel sad watching my Mom's disappointment in the presents he gets her: automatic coffee maker? She doesn't drink coffee...

Moving away from that stuff, I think the best gift I gave was a bunch of picture frames to my middle-brother (as he had asked for). I decided to help him in advance with the picture-insertion prep work though. The whole family seemed to be really entertained with the results of my effort: who wouldn't want 8 picture frames of Yours-truly, with different creepy/awesome expressions, looking at them every single day?

I realize seeing my eyes is key to each facial expression...so use your imagination

My original plan to visit Alicia in Washington DC seems destined to for failure. I forgot about my yearly, unchangeable hospital appointment at the end of next week. It's part of the long term cancer observations that I, and all kids treated for leukemia when they were younger, go through. The chance of recurrence in someone like me isn't any different from the average person in the population, but this relates more to me being a participant in a bunch of scientific studies about the long term effects or the chemicals they used on me. Either way, I can't skip that date so this doesn't give me time to see Alicia before she zooms back to Australia in mid-January.

My older-brother says I should take advantage of him living in Austin, Texas, and come visit him in the next two months. As he's said, with my work I don't have an excuse not to visit the area. I've checked flight prices: if I go next week it costs 400$ CAN, but if I go in 6 months it'll cost me 650$...which makes absolutely no sense. But either way, this gives me a reason to visit that area and attempt to socialize on your family-level with my brother. So maybe I will take him up on the offer.

Living under the same roof as my parents has had a patience-learning curve thus far. If I'm tired or annoyed, I need to hide away from them otherwise I'm liable to explode. With my Mom it's because of all the random shit she's always asking me to do for her. These days, it seems that she just worries about the most insignificant things, since she's retired and has nothing else to do. It's always little comments about "oh no, it's going to snow then it will get icy and then I might slip" or "I've been watching you do some work and I have a little suggestion..." or "can you just [drop what you're doing] and help me [for the next 2 hours]...". Maybe I'm a terrible son, but I just want to flip her the bird, as my Grandmother would say when referring to other Toronto drivers (god, Grandma rocks!). With my Dad, it's his constant ability to be a slob. He eats everything, as quickly as possible, and never cleans up after himself. When my Mom gets home with food, it's as if it's his job to sit in the kitchen and proceeds to eat everything that contains any form of sugar. He then naps, watches TV and repeats. Ugghh, I hope I don't end up like him. Oh, and if I have to hear either of my parents self-congratulate themselves on another meal they've made, that actually tastes like shit to me, I will flip the dinner table over. Clearly, I need to do more of the cooking around here.

I realize this post is mostly me just bitching. I'm sorry, this doesn't create an accurate portrayal. My family is actually pretty awesome and I'm a whinny little dick. It's just hard seeing all these little things, repeat themselves over and over again without change. Each little time is a mild annoyance, but it adds up. So, for now just suspend your disbelief on whether my Dad is inhuman or whether my Mom needs to get a life or that this was a terrible holiday period - none of those are true.

Of course, please feel free to think I'm a terrible person and to wish that my Grandma was in fact your Grandma.