What2DoWhen?

A funny thing happened over Thanksgiving.

My husband and I were invited to our son’s house for the Day After Thanksgiving. His wife and son were sick and

we couldn’t make the luncheon. No harm done. We would go on Friday.

We arrived at Noon, the requested time.

We sat down in the playroom area watching the remnants of Harry Potter where all the evil ones are killed off leaving the original

three left and still standing.

Lunch

As time breezed by, my son’s wife’s parents arrived along with their older daughter and her son whose a bit older than the other three

grandchildren.

Baked ham, turkey porridge, sticky rice, and other foods were on the table. The kind of table that sits in the middle of the kitchen with enough

seats for six people.

Out to one side is another table where the family usually sits for lunch, dinner or breakfast on their regular school days.

Everyone served themselves.

What happened next?

The entire family of my son’s wife sat at the table with their two daughters, our two grandchildren, their elder daughter, and

my son stood eating off his plate.

We sat, my husband and I, at the regular table along with my grandson and the older daughter’s son. We sat there talking, although

it’s difficult to talk to a 13 year old boy who’s not talkative. On the other hand, the youngest grandchild at 5 provided the necessary verbal

relief. Finally, my son decided to finish eating with us at the table.

Did I mention no one spoke to us from that other table?

Did I mention that when we did enter the house, all my son’s wife said was hi, then ignored us for the rest of the day.

What2DoWhen

When you find yourself in this situation, common manners call for “common manners.”

Don’t sit there and glare.

Don’t give them the satisfaction of crying.

Ignore them back.

Concentrate on the youngest grandchild and enjoy his company.

Pay respective attention to your son. It could get worse.

Worse Happens

In our case, worse happened. The wife’s parents left first with left-overs.

The eldest daughter and son left with left-overs, mostly ham.

What did we leave with? Sticky rice. No ham or porridge soup for us. Nope. Zip. Nadda. 0.

The mother and her two daughters left the room and amused themselves in their rooms.

My son left to pick up a prescription.

He reminded us to take our sticky rice with us should we leave before we left his house before he returned.

The youngest grandchild played with us.

He loves to destroy his toys. Been doing it for five years. I’m pretty sure he won’t change. He was born that way.

Been crashing down blocks, trains, cars, plastic dinosaurs and everything else that gets in his path. Awesome kid.

The remedy

Is there a remedy to this scene?

I doubt it. Both my husband and I enjoyed spending time with our grandson.

We didn’t see much of the mother or our two granddaughters. Two busy to pay us attention.

Children are like monkeys. Monkeys see. Monkeys do.

Remember that when you’re not on your best behavior. Kids soak up everything from age 0.

Just take a good look around. You’ll see it for yourselves.

The youngest grandchild gave us BIG hugs. He didn’t kiss us. He had a bad cough.

My son hugged me and my husband.

That was our Thanksgiving luncheon.

What did we learn from all of this?

We had a much better time hanging out with our friends on Thanksgiving and eating dinner with them and their

granddaughter and daughter.

Moral to story

Your son is your son until he takes a wife.

A daughter you’ll have for the rest of your life.

Besides that, good manners and good breeding usually don’t always go hand in hand, but sometimes it does.

I know I raised my son better than this, but sometimes, the son or daughter has no choice. They do the best they can.

Always remember that you love them.

And leave it at that.

Until next time… .