I’m in Ohio for Thanksgiving, visiting my wonderful sister. I just helped her clean out and prepare the turkey for dinner. That was… interesting.

You can definitely tell she and I are related, though. We both had those “this is disgusting” expressions on our faces and she complained about having to *clean out* the turkey. And she’s the one nearly married and with two kids!

I’ve gotten next to no sleep. I’m generally like that in a new place for the first night or two.

My sister has our step-dad’s (John) obituary tacked to her refrigerator. First time I’ve seen it was today. I cried. I’m not sure I ever actually cried when I found out he passed. I’m not sure why, but I don’t remember that I did.

Lauren says she still cries almost every other day. The two of them were really close. My nephew, who goes by CJ, was partly named after our step-dad. Casey John. He and my niece are still sleeping and since I didn’t get in until 2am, they haven’t technically met me yet. Goodness, I can’t wait.

On a much lighter note - I’m *really* in the southern points of Ohio. My sis and her man are having a garage built next to their house, so it’s all muddy. Walking UP a really muddy driveway with a 25lb bag of clothes adding to my weight was fun! Definitely reminded me of living around here during high school. Ahh, the good ol’ days! :D

Current Mood: Exhausted

I don’t think I’ve ever uttered the words, “I can’t wait for the holidays.”

Mostly this is because I’ve never been the family type. Given my upbringing, you’d understand. Brief history: my father was an alcoholic abusive bastard and my mother is a self-absorbed bitch. The nurturing a child so desperately needs simply wasn’t provided me, so I was forced to grow up quickly and nurture myself as best as possible. I think I turned out all right, all things considered.

But, I’m sure you can see why things like, “home for the holidays” have never tugged my heartstrings, right?

I’ll be spending Thanksgiving with my sister, and I’m really looking forward to this considering I haven’t seen her or my niece and nephew in six years. I’m not proud of that by any means, but I hope to start making up for lost time.

My best friend, Rich and I are now planning to spend Christmas together, which we have never done. Rich is like my brother. We’ve known each other for 15 years, so he is definitely family.

Since my new job closes its offices the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I thought a visit to Florida would be a nice idea. Initially, I told Rich I’d be happy to come after the 25th so he could do the family thing, but he responded with:

I think it would be great to spend Christmas together. We could even
go ALL out and make a pallet in the living room floor in front of the tree
and sleep in front of the tree with the lights on and Christmas music - be
all sentimental - and, we could cook Christmas dinner together. I would
love that.

Me being the emotional fool I am… got all teary-eyed reading that.

I really can’t wait for the holidays.