"Family Holiday Dinner"

[weezer]

                                  Even with the mood and all that had transpired in the recent past, I was still determined  to have a Holiday dinner.
          My husband was against it. It would be light I insisted, nothing fancy. I will include our daughter  with an invite.  My husband moaning  saying she is not coming and if she does it will be trouble , don't  ask for trouble insisted my husband. So out goes the invite, no  RSVP messages returned by daughter. The early part of the  Holiday dinner night arrives and my son messaged me that his sister asks him what time was the dinner. I had told her that with her invite. I feel she was just testing the waters to see what was what. I eagerly informed my husband she was coming for dinner.  She arrives 40 minutes late ( this was what she had always did in the past(nothing new )   However she brought two dogs that were not house broken with her. We had just started eating and she puts the dogs under the dining table.Both doggies start whining for food . Our small grandchildren now not paying attention to their dinner are under the table petting the dogs. The one dog starts to poo on the floor under the table , all of us stop eating, no longer with appetite. We have hard wood flooring and my husband was furious as the poo was not solid , he starts getting out floor cleaning products, we can hear him muttering under his breath. Our 19 mo old grandchild started walking through the poo which was strung across the floor as the dog starting scooting and pooing at the same time. The baby was wearing socks and it became a game of  the baby running through the house chasing the dogs,. Now the parents are trying to catch her with doggy poo socks and the rest of us trying to grab the dog who then starts to pee in another room. My daughter shrugs it all off with, well that is how dogs in strange places behave. I seriously bit my lip, wanting to say , perhaps not bring the dogs. But I did not say anything. And I seriously told everyone before she came not to say anything back to her if she made remarks  But my husband was not at all happy with me for inviting her. I had made desserts that were not eaten, the dinner I scraped up and threw most of it out. But my daughter said pack up the food for her to eat later. So there we were packing up remaining dinner for her to eat later. The dogs are still barking running through the rooms, it felt more like a 3 ring circus get together.. My son and family leave, but daughter remains seated, um, she wants to talk,, and what does she have to say. Ok she states I want to know exactly what I am going to inherit from you guys. And I want to make sure that my name is on the will..

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[Sancho]

Hi Weezer and thank you for this post. I could feel my eyes getting wider and mouth dropping further the longer I read and could hear myself saying 'Oh No!'

On second reading I'm convinced the dogs have worms!

I too have had my experiences of dd, dogs and dog poo. And yes, the same impossibility of being able to say anything to her about it.

You are a great writer and I have to say I am looking forward to the sequel. How did you respond to the will questions? Did dh explode? My dd tells everyone how my home is going to be hers etc. It used to react to it,  but just let it go past me now.

I hope you are okay. Behind all this is a the story of a mom doing all she can to keep a connection with a loved child. Well done mom.

[Couscous]

I can imagine that this outcome was easily predicted.