The Holidays

The holiday season is about to end. I had a wonderful time with my son this year as he was very excited and it was fantastic to see the awe and amazement in his eyes as he saw, unwrapped, and played with his presents on Christmas Day. The holidays are rough for me. Mostly because the rest of my family are in different parts of the US and I don't have the opportunity to spend it with them. I am from a family with 8 kids so you can imagine the noise at the holidays in my house. Now with just my husband, his parents and my son it is a lot quieter. Not to mention that it seems that the rest of my family forgets my son at Christmas. All of my brothers and sisters have children and every year since they have been born I sent them something for their birthday and Christmas. No matter how poor I was. Even if it was just a card, I still acknowledged the special event. I am disappointed in my sisters for not doing this. My brother is usually the forgetful one of the group has been great about it so I am grateful for that. I know that my sisters are busy and have families of their own etc. However, I don't understand how you can forget your two year old nephew on his birthday and on Christmas. It just makes me sad because they want him to know them, yet they don't reach out and make any effort. Prior to getting married and having my son, (and having less flexibility to travel) I used to go visit my nieces and nephews as much as I could. I adored them all and wanted very much to be a part of their lives, which I am to this day. Even my husband's brother has made no effort to be a part of my son's life. Quite frankly I don't understand this. What I also don't understand is how I am supposed to pretend that it is okay when I do see them. My mother in law gave my son a gift on Christmas that she said was from "Uncle G." Well my husband and I know that Uncle G didn't buy the gift and send it to his mother's house when he could have just sent it to us. We know she bought the gift and is saying it is from him. The man is over 30 years old. Seriously I think he is capable of buying presents himself and sending them.

At the end of the day though it isn't about the gifts. It is about making the effort to truly be a part of his life. If they had just called to talk to him/us or sent a card I probably wouldn't be so upset but like I said they did neither. I really am sad about it.