We were invited by some of our favorite people in the universe to celebrate Thanksgiving in Virginia this year. We decided to make the trip and to take the kids to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens to kick off the holiday season. The trip up was pretty easy. We didn't run into any traffic on I-95, which was really strange for the day before Thanksgiving. The kids were at their usual level of horribleness, they weren't UNUSUALLY horrible, so that was good. Just the usual arguing that the other is looking at them, they weren't sharing the chips....we tuned them out.
We had a really nice Thanksgiving day with family. The food was delicious, the kids played with their cousins, we got to visit with everyone. It was a great day. On Black Friday, we headed to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. It was cold as hell but we were bundled up. I could not find my coat ANYWHERE before we left so I was in long johns, a sweater, and a North Face jacket and gloves, so it was fine.
The park was amazing. It was like Christmas threw up. There were lights and trees and wreaths everywhere. There was Christmas music blasting through the speakers throughout the park. We rode rides, we watched shows, we drank hot chocolate and had a nice time. Until dinner.
I bought all-you-can-eat buffet tickets where they were showing the most popular show at the park. I had to purchase an adult ticket for my 10 year old. The adult tickets were $39 and the kid tickets were under 20, but I figured that she could eat a few plates. She's a big kid. So we get there, and the place was huge. It was full of people. Off to the side was the buffet and there was a ton of food. Salad, soup, chili, brats, ham, turkey, fresh sliced prime rib, vegetables, potatoes, chicken nuggets, cobbler, cookies, red velvet cake, chocolate fudge cake, a variety of sodas and drinks.... We got our plates together and my 8 year old was loving it. She wanted to try everything. My 10 year old, who had been pleasant and was having a great time up until this point scowled. "I'm not hungry."
I didn't understand. We had lunch 4.5 hours prior and she hadn't eaten anything since then. There was food that she liked. "I just want to sit down." We had reserved front row seats in the middle of the restaurant. She sat down and pouted. "Is something wrong? Do you feel sick? Do you want a drink at least?" She laid her head down. "No. Leave me alone. I'm tired." I tried to encourage her to eat something and I told her if she chose not to eat that I wasn't buying her anything else. She looked at me defiantly and said, "That's fine." Then the show started. There were life sized gingerbread men dancing around us, there were tap dancers in shiny green fur-trimmed outfits, there was a large Christmas tree that descended from the 20 foot ceiling and my daughter sat with her head in her hand, looking bored as she ate NOT.ONE.BITE of the $39 dinner that I had purchased for her. This is how I felt on the inside:
This is becoming our lives now. Her mood swings are just the worst. One moment she is totally fine and the next she is a raging lunatic. She must get that from her mother. Seriously though, I don't know if we are going to survive this. It's horrible.
So we are sitting there and I heard the voice of one of my friends in my head (okay, I didn't actually HEAR it in my head. I'm a little nuts, but I'm not crazy). She used to talk a lot about grace and how it is undeserved favor and instead of getting angry I told myself over and over again: Just have grace with her, just have grace with her, just have grace with her. Your sweet daughter is inside of her. She doesn't really want to act this way, she has a hard time controlling her mood swings, just have grace right now. That's what I did. I stopped being mad and upset and I watched the show. I can only control myself. I cannot force feed my 10 year old daughter and I cannot make her have a happy attitude. I left her alone and I enjoyed my dinner and made sure we ate enough food to account for the fact that I paid for a dinner that wasn't going to be used.
Oddly enough, she was fine a short time afterwards. She said she liked the show. She didn't look like she enjoyed it but that must have been a front. It was getting dark now and we walked through the park admiring the lights and decorations, stopping only periodically by the heaters to warm our cold cheeks. We went to the candy store and got some goodies and then we rode the train to the front of the park. There were Clydesdale horses with green and red plaid blankets and carriages filled with presents and fake snow that fell gently over us. It was a very magical time.
Even though it was late, almost 8 o'clock, we decided we would make the 6 hour drive home. We loaded up the car and my husband jacked up the heater, so we could thaw out. I was getting warm so I decided to take off my jacket. The zipper was broken and I could not zip it down. I tried to get my kids to do it, they couldn't get it. I was started to get freaked out. I was entombed by this North Face jacket and I could not get it off. I was feeling claustrophobic in it. I needed it off NOW. So I did what any rational grown woman would do, I began to cry and scream out, "GET IT OFF OF ME. THIS SWEATER IS A STRAIGHT JACKET. I AM TRAPPED IN HERE." Everyone in the car began to laugh but it was not funny. I felt like this damn jacket was going to eat me alive. I was feeling very irrational about it.
My husband started screaming. "JUST RIP IT OFF. RIP THE ZIPPER." He knows me well enough to recognize the sheer panic in my voice. I tried. I took both hands and pulled as hard as I could. But alas, I am not Hulk Hogan.
I was able to stretch the collar enough to get my head through it. I was frantically trying to pull it off but the rest of my clothes were coming with it. "GET IT OFF OF ME." I finally wiggled myself out of the North Face Jacket. Then I was okay. I took a deep breath. My family looked at me like I nuts. "What? That jacket was a tomb."
The rest of the trip was uneventful. We got home at 3 am and crawled into bed and enjoyed a blissful sleep. Then we woke on Saturday to deck the halls and get the Christmas season started.
Stay tuned, later I will tell you about how I lit my oven on fire and why I had to google, "Will my kids die if they eat wax paper?"
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