It's FINALLY over!

It's over. One down and one to go. I dread holidays. I find them emotionally draining and stressful. I don't suffer from "holiday" depression, but I don't enjoy all of the forced "good cheer" and I don't look forward to all of the "traditional" activities--I find it all exhausting and I am always ready for it to go away for another year.

I have a dysfunctional family, anyway. My husband, who is a recovering addict (clean for almost 8 months), and I live with his parents--who at one time were addicts themselves (clean for a few years, now). And we were expecting my sister-in-law and her husband for Thanksgiving dinner. They are not former addicts. She is an alcoholic and they are both speed freaks. And they have an 11-year-old son. They didn't make it in time for the big dinner at noon (Are we surprised?), and when they did come late that evening in separate vehicles, around 8 pm, they had some kind of altercation and S-I-L's husband left. The next day, sister-in-law's old friend from high school (another abuser, cocaine) and within an hour of her leaving, my S-I-L also announced that she was going "home". Her son was invited to stay the weekend, and they would meet halfway on Sunday, so he could be back for school on Monday.

Now, it's not his fault he has turned out the way he has....and he didn't ask to have ADHD. But I believe my mother-in-law overcompensates for his less than ideal living conditions by NEVER making any demands on him: EVERYTHING (from taking a bath to wearing clohtes to eating) is a negotiation or compromise of some kind, which he has learned to use to full advantage. He has become a world-class brat.

And the hardest part is that I absolutely CANNOT express any of the opinions contained herein, because I must be appropriately beholden to the in-laws with whom I live. So, is it any wonder that I really don't enjoy this time of the year? Can you blame me for looking forward to going back to work, tomorrow?

Maybe by next year, my situation will be such that my husband's recovery will still be on track and he and I will have been able to get back into a place of our own. Then if I get stressed-out and exhausted, I can just leave....