Some things went really well and some went horribly bad. I'm going to give my performance this holiday a 5, Ketu gets an 8 and A-chan gets no rating because she's way too young for me to be worrying about things like that! The fact that we were all sick during the entire week of the holidays made everything polarize. The good things were brighter and the bad things were so dark that they depressed us. My worst failing this year was trying to do too much and not being organized enough. Ketu did a great job of playing with A-chan and keeping her occupied while I did major cooking streaks. A-chan refused to eat or drink for three whole days during which we panicked and got entirely too frustrated over trying to make her get enough fluids, etc. Next year I need to be more organized and less chaotic. We need to remember that if we're pressuring A-chan too much then no one will have a good holiday. It's up to us to relax and chill when she's in a bad mood...who cares if the presents get opened a day later if it means we're all happier during it!
Family things are pretty confusing for us. We're both the black sheep of our families and don't feel that we fit in. I think this year highlighted that issue in very strong tones and makes us wonder what we need to teach A-chan about family stuff at holidays and how. Issues like: we don't understand when to give presents and when not. People that we've never exchanged presents with have suddenly shown up with presents for us in hand and us going, 'huh? but...wha?" Family that we thought were only giving presents to A-chan gave us presents too, leaving us feeling like cads for not having anything for them. Other family gifts are tantamount to exchanging cash in envelopes (they give us cash, we give them gift certificates) which leave us baffled about why we're still doing it. How do we talk to family and friends about giving gifts so that we know for sure what we're doing instead of wandering about blindly? We don't want to be rude or to offend people, but we're clueless! And we don't want to pass that uncluefulness on to A-chan. She deserves to know the societal rules and mores that govern gift giving and other holiday traditions.
Family things are pretty confusing for us. We're both the black sheep of our families and don't feel that we fit in. I think this year highlighted that issue in very strong tones and makes us wonder what we need to teach A-chan about family stuff at holidays and how. Issues like: we don't understand when to give presents and when not. People that we've never exchanged presents with have suddenly shown up with presents for us in hand and us going, 'huh? but...wha?" Family that we thought were only giving presents to A-chan gave us presents too, leaving us feeling like cads for not having anything for them. Other family gifts are tantamount to exchanging cash in envelopes (they give us cash, we give them gift certificates) which leave us baffled about why we're still doing it. How do we talk to family and friends about giving gifts so that we know for sure what we're doing instead of wandering about blindly? We don't want to be rude or to offend people, but we're clueless! And we don't want to pass that uncluefulness on to A-chan. She deserves to know the societal rules and mores that govern gift giving and other holiday traditions.
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