So the holidays have arrived. This is the first christmas the Girlfriend and I are celebrating together.
I'm an only child and I only have my Mom left in my immediate family. Growing up in a large Italian family, I've been blessed with many cousins (most named Anthony and Marie), but as close as we are, we're not sibs.
Blending into a family is hard and being an only child makes sibling issues foreign to me. The Girlfriend, however is the eldest of three. Not 3 mixed siblings, 3 girls.
Over the past nine months, I've been immersed in sibling relationships. Going to visit the Middle and her family outside of NY, going to visit the Youngest in PA. It's nice to be part of a family. Youngest and family came to our house for Thanksgiving and it was one of the best holidays of my life.
Every family seems to have it's idiosynchratic ways and traditions outsiders don't understand, or will never be a full part of. My new family is not the Waltons, but their not the people from "Meet the Parents," either. All in all, I feel lucky to be a part of them.
A few months back, the Girlfriend mentiones that she will have to work on Christmas. Thinking I'm being the greatest mate ever, I tell her, "No problem, I'll stay here with you." I'm feeling pretty good about this decision. After all what kind of a$$ would leave their Girl on Christmas.
I call my Mom and tell her that I'm not coming home, rather she's coming to my place for the holiday. She happily obliges. This means she doesn't have to cook for me and the myriad of cousins that stop by for the traditional Italian Christmas Eve fair, the feast of the 7 fishes. A side note: This meal literally stinks and the midnight mass at my church smells like a fishmarket.
I notify the cousins that I'm not coming home and there is some disappointment, especially from my 2 teenage cousins that I take for a day of extreme snowtubing the day after Christmas each year.
I'm an only child and I only have my Mom left in my immediate family. Growing up in a large Italian family, I've been blessed with many cousins (most named Anthony and Marie), but as close as we are, we're not sibs.
Blending into a family is hard and being an only child makes sibling issues foreign to me. The Girlfriend, however is the eldest of three. Not 3 mixed siblings, 3 girls.
Over the past nine months, I've been immersed in sibling relationships. Going to visit the Middle and her family outside of NY, going to visit the Youngest in PA. It's nice to be part of a family. Youngest and family came to our house for Thanksgiving and it was one of the best holidays of my life.
Every family seems to have it's idiosynchratic ways and traditions outsiders don't understand, or will never be a full part of. My new family is not the Waltons, but their not the people from "Meet the Parents," either. All in all, I feel lucky to be a part of them.
A few months back, the Girlfriend mentiones that she will have to work on Christmas. Thinking I'm being the greatest mate ever, I tell her, "No problem, I'll stay here with you." I'm feeling pretty good about this decision. After all what kind of a$$ would leave their Girl on Christmas.
I call my Mom and tell her that I'm not coming home, rather she's coming to my place for the holiday. She happily obliges. This means she doesn't have to cook for me and the myriad of cousins that stop by for the traditional Italian Christmas Eve fair, the feast of the 7 fishes. A side note: This meal literally stinks and the midnight mass at my church smells like a fishmarket.
I notify the cousins that I'm not coming home and there is some disappointment, especially from my 2 teenage cousins that I take for a day of extreme snowtubing the day after Christmas each year.
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