Christmas Day, Sorta

My bro and SIL, nephews and niece came in for the holidays. Since they’re going back on Christmas Eve and will be spending the majority of their time at their home here (about 2 ½ hours north), we had Christmas on Sunday. Well, Nate and I opened a few gifts but my mom saved the rest for this coming Sunday. First, the boys were rowdy but much better behaved than normal. Nate and J1 spent a ton of time together. J2 has asthma and the dry air was making breathing a bit difficult. Not to mention, if he had to have a breathing treatment we would have had to take him to the hospital since their luggage was left in Alabama long after they left which is where his nebulizer was. Eventually he started feeling better and joined his brother and Nate in playing on the big round bales of hay in the bottom field. Our sweet Annie has grown into a precious toddler. My parents got her a little stroller for her baby dolls and toddled around pushing it everywhere all. day. long. She took right to me and she’s just so different than the boys. There was a little ache in my heart knowing the fact I would probably never have a little girl but that passed about the time she took a shite. I have to say, this is the best holiday we, as an extended family, have ever had together. I have to eat crow, or rather, at least admit fault. My SIL set me back on my heels. She was telling my Mom and I how much happier she is in Alabama and she believes its because she’s away from her interfering family and her Mom and Dad are not stuck up her butt all the time. I’m not sure I’ve quite recovered yet. She said that her parents are very critical of the way she and my brother are raising the kids and she feels as though she can’t do anything right around them. My mom said if her mom was meant to raise those children then she would have had them herself. I’ve never ever heard my SIL be so critical of her family. I guess we were all under the illusion that she enjoyed spending so much time with them. Maybe she didn’t realize how much stress she was under until she left. Regardless, it definitely gave my mom and I something to chew on. Maybe WE’VE been too critical. Of course, I do believe if you allow your children to bite, pinch, and punch that they should be reprimanded, whether its mine or yours. That goes for all of ya! However, I can say the boys have benefitted from being in Alabama. They seem very happy, they were thrilled to see us, and having three rambunctious boys was not good inside, so we tossed them out to go play on the 600+ acres my parents have. Nate and J1 took off a bit too far. A precursor of things to come, I’m sure. I definitely ended up with a different view of how things have been for my SIL since the birth of her first and what kind of stress she’s under. Yes, I had to change my view and have to honestly say, "Maybe she’s not so bad after all."