FINALLY! It is Thanksgiving week and for the first time in months, The Winey Family will be reunited. All four of us under one roof.
Now, of course we’ve been apart from each other before. At one point a few years ago, due to vacations, West Point assignments and caring for older parents, all of us were in different states for a while.
But this is the first time since my nest “officially” emptied that we’ll all be here. The Winey Son will be flying in (he can’t get here until Thanksgiving afternoon, but hey, it’ll still be Thanksgiving!). Ditto The Winey Daughter, who will be home on Thanksgiving break from college. And The Winey Hubby and I will be running back and forth to the airport and cooking the turkey (wanna guess which one of us is doing which J?).
Yes, we will be together. But we will also be changed. Changed because both children have taken some major life steps in the past few months: first job, beginning college. And the Winey Hubby and I have travelled back to the BK (before kids) days of our marriage. We have all been adjusting
So while I’m so excited to be together again, I do wonder if these changes will make a difference in our time together. We’ve all gained a measure of independence from each other over the past months. We’re living our everyday lives, but physically apart, so there are naturally bits and pieces of those lives that go unreported from each other. How will it all come together for the brief 72 hours the four of us will actually be in the same state…and the same house? (And did I mention sharing two cars?)
There are a few things I can count on for this homecoming weekend though. Thanksgiving night will bring the take-no-prisoners game of Apples to Apples with the rest of the family. The Winey Son will most likely try and lie about his winning numbers again, but ever since that one game, we are on to him. The Winey dogs will abandon their loving parents for the beds of their big brother and sister (cute little ingrates). Both of those beds will go unmade (until I can stand it no more – I am a serial bed maker. There’s just something about an unmade bed that drives me crazy. Dusty tables, dirty floors? Not so much.)
On Friday morning, all six of us (doggies included) will pile into the SUV (whose back seat has been oddly empty all these months) and head out to cut down our Christmas tree. We will tramp through the tree farm, arguing over discussing the pros and cons of each tree that might fit into the family room. When the tree is finally chosen, the poor soul elected to saw it down will receive buckets of (in their opinion) unneeded advice on the actual cutting process. I am the only one immune to sawing duty, since by this time, I am normally carrying both doggies, usually muddy and/or snowy, and no one else wants to hold 14 pounds of wiggling pooches while the tree comes down.
Later that night, we will decorate that tree, reminiscing about the memories that come with each ornament. There will be a fire in the fireplace, snacks to munch on and the inevitable sporting event on the television. There will be teasing and joking and barking (the dogs, not us). It will be one of the nicest evenings of the year.
In the end then, with all the changes that we’ve gone through this past year, I guess there are certain things will never change. We will always have our traditions, our inside jokes and most importantly, our love for each other. The dynamics will have changed, but deep down, the things that really matter to our family will have not.
Worried? Nope. I cannot wait.
