Thanksgiving should be a soap opera

…but only when it is spent at my in-laws.

It is hard to believe another Thanksgiving has come and gone. It is not one that I would like to remember and I really missed not being with my family. I don't think my mother-in-law said more than two words to me on Thursday but of course, I was kind of hiding so she would not lash out at me. I have not grown up in a family where drama was the main course for a holiday and I can tell ya I do NOT like it!

We arrived at my in-laws and were greeted at the door by my father-in-law and one of my nieces. One could not know that soon the smiles would not be there (although all of us kind of expected something to happen). Now my in-laws have only been in this particular house for a couple of years. Before that, they lived in a much smaller place. The new house has a large kitchen that my MIL bragged about since they bought the house. Well the bragging has stopped. The complaints about the kitchen being too small started as soon as we got to the house.

It was nice to see my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and all of the girls. I finally got to meet my youngest niece (19 months after she was born) and can I tell ya…..she is cuter than I expected.

All in all, there were 10 of us for dinner and so the table was set outside where the weather was FANTASTIC! The actual meal was good and seemed to go quickly but it was nice to sit and chat for a bit. I also had a blast taking photos of the girls as they just love posing for photos.

Then dinner was over and the drama started. The rule in my mother-in-law's house is that nothing and I mean nothing can be done after dinner until ALL dishes are cleaned and put away. That means if you want to watch a movie, you can't. If you want dessert, you can't.

Since my MIL is the one that cooks the cleaning is my FIL's job. Since this newer house has a dishwasher you would think it would be easier for cleanup. Sadly, it is not. My FIL put in the first load and was going to wash the rest of the dishes (with my SIL's help) but my MIL would not have it. She kept saying at first that she needed to put the food away, complaining all the while that she would have to dirty utensils to do so and then complaining about not having enough room in the fridge for the left-overs (yeah I will talk about those later). My FIL and B actually LEFT to take the leftovers back to our place. The drive is about an hour round trip. While they were gone, my SIL again offered to do the dishes, which my MIL refused stating that there were no clean towels (don't know why as there was a closet full of them).

The older girls wanted dessert and the younger girls were hungry again about this time. It was about 2.5 hours after we had eaten. My SIL told the younger girls that they could have some yogurt outside. So the girls put on their shoes and go to the fridge to get the yogurt. My MIL tells N (the 3-year old) "NO yogurt. You cannot eat yet! You have to wait until later for dessert!" This then made the 3 year-old cry as it should. Then my MIL has the gall to say to my SIL "Well if you insist you can give them pie and ice cream" Which is not what they wanted. So my BIL goes to get the yogurt and my MIL stews and starts complaining that she has to do it all and no one helps her clean and at that time B comes back and I just give him the look and tell him "she's losing it."

So finally, HOURS after dinner, dessert was eaten and a movie watched. B and I then headed home where I was in the mood to make myself a nice turkey sandwich. But did I get to make a nice leftover turkey sandwich? NOPE. As you see…..although my MIL gave us leftovers such as a container of gravy, she gave us no TURKEY! B said he told her not to as we have a frozen one in the freezer but as I told him, how will I make a sandwich with a frozen turkey? And why the heck do we need leftover gravy if we have nothing to put it on????