A somewhat negative beginning to Thanksgiving?

OK, I've been planning on writing about this for a couple days now, except I just haven't had the time to sit down and do it. It just bugged me and I wanted to tell people about it. So let me go ahead and get started...

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving

I was at my parents' house hanging out with family, nothing too exciting. Mom was doing what she called "getting started on Thanksgiving dinner"... (All she did was bake a few store-bought pies and make some dressing, which in her mind was an ordeal of epic proportions) Out of my brothers who were there, and my father for that matter, none of them could ever really be any help to her in the kitchen unless she was just planning on throwing something into the microwave. So I offered to help. She was fine, didn't need anything. The night progresses and she goes on and on about having to "cook everything alone" each Thanksgiving. I offered to help again and it was declined. Seriously, how much help do you need to check on something that is baking? I mean, unless she thought she needed a second opinion as to if it was done of not, which would be ridiculous. Didn't the damn box tell her how long to bake it for? After this saga is over, everything seems to get back to normal. Except for her usual complaining about something (anything she can think of) as if her life is just terrible. I ended up deciding to walk to the grocery store to get a few things (mainly I went to get a couple beers) and I asked her if she needed anything. If she could think of anything that she forgot at the store a few hours earlier that she may have overlooked. She said no. And as usual, I go and ask everybody there if the want or need anything while I was at the store. My youngest brother who is in Lincoln this week home from college said he wanted some certain type of plain bubble gum that he chews while working out (he's a college wrestler for Concordia), and then while I'm down the stairs at the door and ready to leave, I call up to her at the kitchen where she and Tyler (my twin brother) were talking and ask again if she needs anything. No, she didn't. But then she says "Tyler says he wants vanilla ice cream." Now when you are out of work as I am, and trying to make ends meet on unemployment, you don't want to spend money on something that doesn't have a valid level of necessity. So I say back "You just bought vanilla ice cream. I put your groceries away that you got earlier, it's in the freezer."

..... the plot thickens....

She says back to me "He can't eat any of that. That's for my pies for tomorrow." (Damn those pies. Nobody eats the pies that she bakes anyways)

Whatever... I decide that I'll go get some more. Then she says "And he wants chopped pecans and chocolate Magic Shell." (You know, that junk that you pour on your ice cream and it turns into a hard shell, which I find disgusting anyways)

My response to that is: "Dammit mom, he doesn't want that shit. You know that you are the only one that eats your ice cream with that stuff." (Yeah, I do talk to my parents very informally, I speak to them as I would to any of my friends)

So by then, I realize it's her that wants me to get more ice cream and all that other stuff to go with it, not my brother. Now, for that matter, I didn't want any ice cream. I almost never eat it. But I figured that I'd get it because she wanted some. And of course, she didn't offer to come out of the pocket for any of the money I was about to spend on it. So I head to the store, I find the gum that Jordan wanted, and the chopped pecans and the chocolate junk that my mom wanted for her ice cream, and then I start to look at the ice cream. Now, in my eyes, ice cream is ice cream. Screw the brand, so I looked for the best deal since I'm broke.

I leave the store thinking that I did her a "favor", and she would be happy. It's the least I could do for my mom since I knew that she'd be up early the next morning spending a lot of time cooking for the family.

I get back to my parents' house and put all of the stuff I got for her on the kitchen table and she wasn't in sight. And go to the basement family room to hang with Tyler and the first thing I say to him is "If she took her ass to bed, I'm gonna go in there and yank her out of it and make her eat that ice cream she wanted so badly."

I went upstairs to look for her and find her laying on the bed in the guest room watching TV. (Now she tells my dad that he watches stupid channels, but for some reason she ALWAYS is watching the damn Lifetime channel, which I always call "Television for idiots" when I mention it to her) So I tell her to come get her ice cream because I bought her ice cream and the stuff she wanted to go with it. She said that she would in just a second at the commercial break. Fine with me. I went back downstairs to hang with Tyler. About 5 minutes later I go back up to the kitchen as she is walking towards it to get her ice cream. So I show her what pecans I got her and made sure the magic shell stuff I got for her is the right kind. She was alright with what I had bought...

Until...

Just when you think you have seen all the nerve that the person who brought you into this world could have, don't take anything for granted. There is always a way for them to surprise you.

She had the nerve... and I'll repeat... SHE HAD THE NERVE to say to me "Oh, I know you didn't get 'Best Choice' brand ice cream."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? ("Collateral" - Julie will understand the reference)

I was kinda bent over it. But oh well. Ice cream is ice cream, right? I went back downstairs and played some Goldeneye on the N-64 with Tyler. I came back upstairs and was kinda elevated to the level of "pissed" instead of just "kinda bent" at what I deemed to be a certain level of ungratefulness by my mom.

She says to me "I just decided to have some of the ice cream that I already had. I just couldn't eat the kind you bought."

Again..... ARE YOU KIDDING ME????????

So I was upset. I didn't say anything to her. But I wouldn't have bought it nor the other stuff for her if she was so specific about what brand of ice cream she could handle eating. Like I said, I didn't want any of it, I bought it for her. Who cares? I mean, I'm sure that the "Best Choice" brand tasted the same as her "Blue Bunny" brand. So I was just kinda mad with her about it. But I didn't let her know...

...Until the next day when we were having Thanksgiving dinner...

I had kinda let it go. I was just feeling a bit disappointed about her attitude the night before. So here we were at the dinner table. And then I notice something. Something that really kinda made me feel mad again. Yeah, it was the whole "normal" Thanksgiving-type of an array of food. Nothing out of the ordinary... UNTIL... I happened to take notice of the dinner rolls she had bought. And then I realize what the brand was...

Yep, you guessed it. They were "Best Choice".

I was mad. So of course I try not to miss an opportunity to make a comment. So I say to her "Mom, I can't eat any of your dinner rolls. They're Best Choice brand. They probably won't taste good."

Ugh... I didn't know how to feel. I couldn't tell if I had a valid reason to be upset, or if I was making a big deal out of something that wasn't a big deal. It was the principle of the idea.

So still... I'm kinda upset. Not sure if I'm being overly sensitive about it. But I still think that if this whole issue was enough to make me blog about it, then I must have been/still kinda be a bit upset about it.


-T