Oh, Brother, Mother

Last year at Christmas I was disheartened at the multitude of gifts my children received, both from me and others, that have never been used. We talked about taking a trip next year (now this year!), and keeping the gift count low. At their ages, I knew I would have to revisit this, since Christmas is way more about what you get to unwrap than any meaning it might or should have.

So this summer I brought it up again, and they were both enthusiastic about a trip, “as long as it’s someplace warm.”

I belong to an online community of Disney enthusiasts, and as it turned out, a full weekend of events was planned in Florida for Dec 10-13. I decided that was close enough to Christmas, and booked a trip. I asked my mother if she would like to come with us (partly to act as babysitter) and she enthusiastically accepted. Traveling with my mother has not always worked out for me in the past, but this was short enough,, and the kids would be around, so I figured we’d get through it.

I held off on telling the kids until Thanksgiving! Just two weeks notice! I said, “Hey, we’re going to Disney World for Christmas!” and there was much cheering. Then I said, “And Mimi is meeting us there!” Silence. Then, “Oh.” and “Does she have to come?” Not good. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. A summary, in the form of an instant message chat with a friend (so I don’t have to retype everything!):

Me…     so, thursday night, we get to the resort, and grab some dinner

Me…     we basically ate ice cream for dinner (yummy!)

Me…     then we were headed to dhs

Me…     i said, “shall we walk, or take transportation?”

Me…     everyone said they didn’t care

Me…     so i said, “well, i just ate a huge ice cream, let’s walk”

Me…     and everyone (including my kids) started whining

Me…     soooo typical of my mother – she expects you to read her mind

Friend  lmao

Me…     when i ask what you want to do, if you have a preference, i expect you to SAY SOMETHING

Me…     otherwise, don’t get mad at me when i make a decision

Me…     ok, so that irritated me, but it was NOTHING

Me…     friday morning i had a seminar that got out about 12:30

Me…     i met up with my mom and the kids in epcot around 1

Me…     i was STARVING

Me…     i showed up and said so

Me…     my mom says “we had a big breakfast.”

Me…     let me ask you – if someone said that to you, what would you think?

Friend  that they wouldn’t need lunch

Friend  maybe a small snack a little later

Friend  so go ahead and get yourself something

Me…     yeah, that’s what i thought too

Me…     so, i say, “let’s go to morocco”

Me…     and we head that way

Me…     and my mom starts in with her passive aggressive talk about how she’s afraid of morocco

Me…     yes, afraid of a “country” in EPOCT!

Me…     we get there and she starts throwing a fit how i never asked what SHE wanted to do

Friend  lol

Friend  you’re like, all I want is something to EAT!

Me…     so i say, “fine, what would you like to do?”

Me…     “not eat here” she says

Me…     i say, “you said you had a big breakfast”

Me…     “no, your CHILDREN ate a big breakfast – i just had fruit”

Me…     omfg

Friend  lol

Friend  oh, okay but that’s NOT what you said!

Me…     exactly!!!

Me…     which i reminded her!

Me…     she has bad feet

Me…     so i suggested she find a table and sit down

Me…     later, she grumbled that she was assigned as the “table holder”

Me…     i said – i would have held the table and you could have stood in line! i thought you’d rather sit!

Me…     good lord, i can’t do ANYTHING right!

Me…     at lunch she decided she’d had enough and was going to head back to the room

Me…     the tension immediately lifted when she left

Me…     the girls (esp krystal) filled me in on her meanness while i’d been away “please don’t leave us again”

Me…     unfortunately, she took the girls’ park tickets with her, so we couldn’t get any more fast passes

Friend  oh no

Me…     which, when she heard that later on, accused me of blaming her for not letting the kids go on any rides

Me…     which i wasn’t! it was just a fact!

Me…     we found plenty to do

Friend  lol

Me…     friday night i went out drinking with my geek buddies

Friend  geek buddies

Friend  lol

Me…     saturday we had a fairly decent day at AK

Me…     except

Me…     i had made reservations for lunch at tusker house, which was her request

Me…     and when i reminded her of that she said “i didn’t want lunch, i wanted dinner!”

Friend  lol

Me…     again, i can do nothing right!!!

Me…     Saturday night i went out to the private party at toy story mania

Me…     didn’t get home till 1 am

Friend  ooooh

Friend  lol

Me…     ex-freaking-zausted on sunday

Me…     we did rope drop at MK on sunday

Me…     but as we were getting ready to leave in the room, my mom got both girls crying

Friend  because they were going to miss her soo much?

Friend  lol

Me…     she had a fit over some yogurt that belle had spilled on a chair and she had sat in, and had to get her pants all wet to wash off

Me…     she really lost it

Friend  oh boy

Me…     and krystal wrote a note to me that said “i am a terrible child. i hate myself”

Me…     because of how my mother had been treating her

Friend  😦

Friend  i’m sorry!

Me…     she’s awful

Me…     i don’t want to see her for xmas

Friend  how? why?

Friend  like how did you manage to grow up?

Friend  🙂

Me…     i don’t know!

Me…     she’s always admitted she liked us (my sister and me) more as we got older

Me…     and i guess i’m the same way – i like kids better than babies or toddlers

Me…     and she’s always been passive aggressive and expecting the mind reading thing

Me…     but now she’s doing it to my kids – making up rules as she goes along and coming down on them for the littlest things!

Me…     that’s my job!

Me…     i took the girls on this trip to make memories

Me… they didn’t come away with the kind of memories i had in mind…..