Thoughts.com Blogs - Surviving the holidays

Well after 6 days of constant family togetherness, my home is finally ours again. Last week my sister and her husband arrived from Chicago and once they arrived, so did the remainder of my immediate family. My poor husband was surronded by my family 24/7 for almost a week. We cooked, waited on and entertained them the entire time. Now keep in mind my sister and brother-in-law don't actually operate on the same time schedule that my home does. They are used to getting up at the "crack of noon" and going to bed around 3:00 AM. Whereas, at my home we tend to go to bed around 9:30 or 10:00 and get up at 5:30 to be at work by 6:40. So needless to say I am dragging. I feel like all I did was cook, clean, and empty the kitchen trash for 6 days.

Now don't get me wrong. I love my sister and my family, but 6 days is a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time when you haven't lived together since you left for college. I am now wondering how it is possible for us to have been raised by the same individuals and lived in the same home for 18 years. I am late to nothing. They are late to everything. I tend to eat 3 meals a days. They eat all day long and use a new dish for everything. I like to sit and read quietly. They like to talk constantly and expect you to talk back. They play video games all the time and when they aren't playing they are talking about them and I could careless about video games.

I think it is interesting how different our lives are once we move away from home, get married and start a home of our own. I know I do things totally different than when I was a kid growing up at home. I think after spending almost a week with my family I am more appreciative of how my husband and I raise our daughter, spend our time together as a family and live our lives day to day.