It's thanksgiving in Canada

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I didn’t exactly grow up on the brady bunch wich is something that I work hard at accepting but it always has its moments. I have no family close by. So Thanks Giving to me is usually a week end free of housework because I can do it Monday since I am not working.

I have an Aunt about 90 miles away I have called in the past and visited on certain holidays but the truth is, I go mainly so I can tell people at work I have somewhere to be. This Aunt has her own issues and is self-centered and has no sympathy for the friction I have with other family members.

So, I come to accept it and I try my best. But yesterday I was talking with my neighbour on her porch and she told me her husband would be home soon with a friend to have turkey supper. The 2 men showed up and we chatted a bit more. So after a while I decided to leave (not wanting an akward situation where they would kick me out because it was time for them to eat.) As I was leaving the husband asked me if I had a thanksgiving supper yet. Did I ever fight back the tears. It is a humiliation to admit I didn’t and worst, I HATE being invited to other people’s holiday suppers. Everyone is polite to me because they are alone and I just want to scream ‘Why can’t my family be like this!!!’

I told them I wasn’t into holiday suppers and left before I could cry.

Not to mention, I now half suspect he was only inviting me to try and match me up with his buddy.

So the long and short of it is, thanks for letting me vent and please pray for me

CM

 

[Phemie]

Hugs to you as you struggle with loneliness.

I have the opposite problem, I have to pretend to care about this holiday. When I was growing up it was nothing more than a day off school since this was the weekend that Mom & Dad and their friends went away hunting and we stayed home with a sitter. My aunts and uncles didn’t celebrate it either. It was only when DH and I started dating that I discovered that for some people this day was a big deal.

I tried to make it a big deal for DH and even more so when the kids came along but it’s one of those holidays that I really couldn’t care less about. Since we live far from relatives, we usually join a family (who over the years have become our family by feelings if not by blood) for whom it IS a big deal. But to me today is no different from any other day when we get together for meals.