merry christmas, everyone!

it's been a bit of a difficult weekend, as my mom told me (in no uncertain terms) that she didn't want to see me or talk to me. i had been planning to see her today, since we usually spend christmas eve together. traditionally, my family had celebrated on christmas eve, by attending the family mass in the late afternoon, then returning home to find that santa had arrived and opening presents that night. that kept us from getting up early on christmas, and (as i'm learning is truly important in any relationship) left christmas open for extended family holiday-time.

anyhow, i saw my mom on wednesday night and thursday morning, and that didn't go entirely smoothly. when i got in, she was grumpy (from dealing with metro airport traffic) and i was grumpy (from dealing with air-travel and a mis-labeled luggage carousel. we went to dinner, which is always a bit of a challenge since we're both picky (i don't like 'american' food, and it's pretty much all she eats). then we had a bit of an argument when i didn't know what my dad is serving us on christmas day. she wanted to make sure she isn't serving the same thing that night, and since we were having this discussion on dec 20, i hadn't even thought that far ahead.

when i emailed her the next day to let her know that my dad had emailed me about having lasagna, she wrote back that she wanted to cancel seeing each other on christmas eve. i was confused and tried to make sure she knew i was eating with dad on christmas, day and in response she sent me a link to my flickr account, which only confused me further. the most recent photos on flickr are photos that my dad sent from thanksgiving, which is apparently what upset her. i guess i'm either not supposed to see him, or not supposed to have/post photos. i'm sure it doesn't help that the other most recent photos are from the halls' trip to san francisco. however, i tend to take photos when people visit and when i travel. and i post photos that are sent to me (that steve and i are in). so unfortunately that means that since the halls visited, and since my dad sent me some photos with us in them, the most recent photos don't include my mom. and i guess that made her sad (which is understandable). and then that made her mad (not as understandable).

so today, instead of seeing my mom, i hung out at the halls. i'm sure steve was glad for the extra time with his family, but for me it was bittersweet. i could not have asked for nicer in-laws, but it would be nice if my mom would like me and want to see me as well.