The Thanksgiving Breakdown

The title of this post makes me laugh because it can mean multiple things - one being “here is a breakdown of how we spent our Thanksgiving” and another being “we all had a breakdown over Thanksgiving.” Both are true for this year. 

TUESDAY

I went to work for a few hours but didn’t stay long because my kids got out of school early. I really wanted to do something as a family because it’s been a while since we spent time together, so we went to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Nicky and I both slept through a lot of it. We were both wiped out from the musical. That night I went with my friend to see one of the other high school’s musicals. 

BeReal has my back for this post

WEDNESDAY

I woke up to a text from Nicky from late Tuesday night telling me he and his almost-girlfriend were returning to “just friends.” For a million reasons, this was devastating. Hence a breakdown.

I took Daisy to a doctor appointment and then we ran some errands. I had a gift card for Smith’s so we went on a grocery shopping spree, then we had Cafe Rio for lunch.

We put the tree up in the living room and left it undecorated for the day. 

Daisy hates my trolls

That night I made jello (which I had to make a late night run to the store for) and cut up bread loaves to dry out for stuffing. Some of the kids and I played Quixx. Scotty went and hung out with his bros (they usually hang out Thursday nights, but they changed days for the holiday). Nicky and Daisy ended up staying up late together playing golf on a putting green. It did my heart good (even though they were really loud and annoying) because they haven’t spent much quality time together lately. 

THURSDAY - THANKSGIVING

I went to work from about 5:30-10:00. I love going into work early. I got so much stuff done. It was amazing! When I got home I finished my Thanksgiving assignments (stuffing, pretzel jello, cranberry sauce, and butternut squash). We went to Scotty’s mom’s this year. 

Side note: when you have four sets of parents, it can be hard to figure out holidays. We used to go to multiple Thanksgivings, and then we realized we were always rushing from one place to the next, and we never felt present where we were, so we decided to stop doing that and just go to one Thanksgiving a year. A rotation doesn’t really work because our families don’t hold to a regular Thanksgiving schedule - only Scotty’s dad who hosts every-other year. My mom and Scotty’s mom play it by ear every year, and I don’t even remember the last time my dad did something for Thanksgiving. So we try to just not go to the same place two years in a row. Last year we went to Scotty’s dad’s, so this year we went to Scotty’s mom’s. 

Our Thanksgiving was at 1:00. We hung out there for few hours and then we went to my mom’s to visit. We tried to watch The Wizard of Oz to prep our kids to see Wicked on Friday, but none of them would pay attention. So I held my baby niece and sang all the songs to her while silently begrudging my own children.

I “yellow brick road” -ed her to sleep

Scotty’s mom wanted Eva and Zoe to sleep over that night and help her with her Christmas decorations the next morning, so we left my mom’s and went back to Scotty’s mom’s to drop them off. We ate a few leftovers and packed up three grocery bags’ worth of food to take home. 

We played a round of Five Crowns with Nicky and Daisy (Scotty killed us, as he does with all games), and then Scotty and I retired to bed where I stayed wide awake until about 1:00. I had two recurring dreams - one where I go back to my old job at Winder Dairy and the other where I live in my grandma’s house.

FRIDAY

I was wide awake at 4:00, so I went to work early again. Scotty went and donated plasma, which he does every Wednesday and Friday. Then he and Nicky went for a four mile walk. He had the day off work. 

I worked until about 10:30. Then I came home, ate a plate of leftovers, and took a nap. 

I started decorating the Christmas tree. I kept it simple this year and only did about half the decorations. 

In the afternoon we went to see Wicked. Positive reviews from all of us, although I needed it to be 30 minutes shorter (I tap out at two hours). 

I got tickets for the captioned show, and I was so glad I did! I snuck in some fruit and seven layer dip. 

I also had obligatory chocolate, but anyone can sneak chocolate into a movie. 

We started a new puzzle - Dowdle Folk Art released a puzzle of our city, so I got a copy and couldn’t wait to build it. 

SATURDAY

I was wide awake early again (I’ve been in a horrible pattern of waking up at 4:00 and staying awake). I left the house at 6:30 and hit Chick-Fil-A for breakfast before picking up an order at Sam’s Club (scheduled for 7:00 am because, yes, I’m crazy). I decided to impulsively walk around Walmart on the way home, but while I was in the Christmas aisle, I remembered my kids were supposed to do baptisms for the dead and needed to leave at 8:00. I had Zoe’s recommend in my wallet, so I left Walmart and raced home to send them off. 

We have a tradition of everyone picking an ornament each year, so since it was just Eva home, I went back to Walmart with her in tow and let her pick an ornament. She also shopped for our family name drawing (she drew Daisy’s name) and I patiently let her wander the store. We went back and forth and back and forth, and I just let it be an opportunity to get some steps in even though I had to take a lot of deep breaths and talk myself into being patient. 

I ended up at Chick-Fil-A a second time because it was Eva’s dream to buy a plain piece of chicken for breakfast. She ate her piece of chicken and talked about it for the rest of the day. Apparently it was wonderful. 

Right before we left the house, a transformer up the street blew, and the power went out. It was out for about three hours, so after we got home, Eva was pretty bored. I ended up putting her to work wrapping Christmas presents. When the power came back on, we celebrated by watching TV and using the internet. I always make a Chatbook for each kid for Christmas with some photos of their year, and I print them during the Black Friday sale, so I got those finished up. Other Black Friday purchases: Cafe Rio gift cards, shoes, and Flutter Habit lashes. 

I took a long nap, and Scotty finished our puzzle while I was asleep. Shame on him. 

Daisy begged for a haircut all weekend, so I snuck in a quick trim on her.

In the afternoon, Scotty took the little ones swimming, and while they were gone, Daisy’s boyfriend of nine months broke up with her via text message. If you’re keeping track, that’s two break-ups over Thanksgiving break. Scotty and I were supposed to go play poker that night, but I ended up staying home with Daisy. We went to dinner first (with Daisy), and then I dropped Scotty off at poker night and came home. I rage cleaned the bathroom while Daisy laid on the couch. I stayed up too late.

SUNDAY

We woke everyone up early and went to the Conference Center to watch the Music & the Spoken Word broadcast. 

I’ve been wanting to go all year since we have a later sacrament meeting, and now that we’re running out of time, we finally did it. They happened to have the bell choir there, and that’s always a fun treat! 

After Music & the Spoken Word, we went to church. It was Fast and Testimony meeting and the one-year anniversary of when a man got up in front of everyone during a baby blessing (with lots of visitors with small children) and told all of the kids that Santa wasn’t real. That guy got up yesterday, and you could tell certain personalities in the congregation were ready to rush the pulpit, if needed. But he behaved. Phew.

After church we came home and ate soup. We lounged about for a bit. Then we headed to Scotty’s brother’s house for dinner. We were there for a couple of hours, then we came home and watched a movie. I stayed up late grieving with Daisy and helping her get ready to face school in the morning. 

Between the musical ending and two breakups, our lives will not be the same this week. 

And there you have it - the Thanksgiving breakdown and the Thanksgiving breakdown.