And again with the Gnomes

The Gnomes! The Gnomes!

One day I'm just gonna snap.

Background: The Gnomes are BH's son, DIL and three grandkids. The oldest grandaughter is 19, lives on her own and we rarely see her. Sadly I forget all about her most times. The two littler ones are boy gnome (9) and girl gnome (8) I think. Mother gnome is obnoxiously late for everything. Like an hour or two late. Like everyone's gone and we're all cleaned up and sometimes in bed late. Papa gnome has a list of irritants as well. To ridicules to list at the moment.

Every year we do Christmas Eve here at the house. I always go to my folks Christmas day so I have dinner the night before and the grandkids can come and open their gifts and play with their cousins and all the big people can get together and chat for awhile.

Last year was an early dinner giving us plenty of time to be together. Five minutes before the appointed time they give us a call and let us know they're leaving now and they'll be visiting his mom before they come. Yes before. The gnomes and his mother both live about an hour, hour and a half away. So they will be here an hour plus whatever visiting time they do late. I pitched a fit. Just a little fit. With much cursing and just a little yelling which prompted BH to call the son and tell him to get his ass here prompto. They did and were only 2 hours late.

The year before? They came around 10 oclock after I'd already gone to bed.

This year. They don't show at all.

Blessing or curse?

Well I'd prepared dinner for 4 extra people. And extra cause you know everyone will want seconds etc. I decided on taco's for Christmas eve. Not festive but easy. Heat up the meat and beans, toppings on the table, buffet style, no muss, no fuss. I'd made 7 lbs of taco meat.

While frying up shells as guests are arriving BH calls papa gnome to see if they are on their way. No they are not. They're just too tired and have decided to stay home.

A mini fit ensues. I've made 7 pounds of taco meat! SEVEN POUNDS! I'd even made a couple of quiches for breakfast as I know they will stay the night as they have in the past. Unplanned this time as they've been strangely uncommunicative this year. The saddest part is that these kids will not have much for Christmas.

Shortly after T-day I text mother gnome to get some gift ideas for the grandkids. Only the grandkids. We're not buying for the boys and their wives as money is tight and they've been generously helped all year. I don't hear from her. I text her to let her know what time to come Christmas eve. She lets me know they'll be on the road that day and they'll stop by Christmas day instead. I text her and let her know we'll be at my parents on Christmas day. I don't hear from her. BH, after much calling finds out that they will not be traveling that day and will be here for Christmas Eve. I'm hearing conflicting reports from other DIL, who I love, who says the gnomes are still undecided, yes they'll come, no maybe not. So even though BH assures me they'll be here, I am not so sure. I get a feeling that they either will not come or will otherwise make the holiday unpleasant for us.

And one side note to the whole gift thing. I like to get gift idea from the moms. So I call them up. Doesn't everyone do this? I remember giving little lists or ideas to the grandparents. I usually offered up reasonably priced items as I have 3 boys but they have many grandkids. It's no secret to anyone that we're struggling. Like everyone else. We're in Real Estate and the market has tanked so, yeah, not a lot of extra cash here. My phone often takes a message for me and doesn't let me know about it for a few days. (but I love you Cherry Berry) So I get this belated message, it's from mother gnome. And boy oh boy peeps, she's left me this monstrous message. I get a list of things for boy gome. A list of Xbox games that'd he'd like. He'd also love to have a microscope AND a telescope. Girl gnome would like that doll house that they have at Target. (just over $100 and huge! They live in their 5th wheel trailer remember) For her and hubs, well they'd so love to take the kids to the mountains this year. Maybe a little cabin with a fireplace instead of a hotel room. They'd like the kids to play in the snow.

There's nothing under $50.00 on this list and $50.00 and under was all we'd budgeted for the 6 grandkids. And a vacation! Are you serious! We're going to pay for a weekend in the mountains for them? Really? Really? They never even have gas money to get to our house.

This weekend we headed over there to give the kids their gifts. We'd gotten an Xbox game for the boy and a Gemagic (Bedazzler) plus other jewelry kits for the girl. The Gemagic was a hit by the way. Super duper easy. The whole time we're there mother gnome is talking to me about this vacation in the mountains. Inserting us in this scene now. Won't it be fun, sitting by the fireplace, yada yada yada. We could get snow clothes (because who has them here) and play in the snow. She'd like the kids to make a snowman this year and with all of us we could have a snowball fight. Wont this be all kinds of fun? NO! I say. I do not like the snow. I will not be playing in the snow. Snow is cold. Oh, she laughs. You could stay in the cabin and drink hot cocoa by the fire! You know, I think she'd be willing to put up with me if we paid for her little fantasy.

But I'm better now. After much discussion with BH we've both come to an understanding. He loves his son and grandkids. There is no excuse for their behavior but this is what we have. BH's way is to just let things go. He is not troubled by their quirkiness. He understands that I'm the one making all the plans and such. He gets it. No one can fix this silly family so we just have to make the best of it.

Besides, I kind of enjoy blogging about it.