Thanksgiving with Amy Lee

Everyone’s family has a touch of dysfunction and my family is no different. So I thought I would give you a glimpse of how Thanksgiving went for my dysfunctional family this year.

As I walked through the door of my parents house Thanksgiving day the first thing I see is my sister Pam already nursing a glass of wine. It is clear to me that the dysfunction has already commenced. I turned to see my mother and watch her blood pressure rise as she see's that I brought my 3 small dogs with me to play with her 3 dogs. She is NOT happy and we start out Thanksgiving morning with an argument when she accuses me of turning her house into Animal Kingdom. I have now set a new record for “fastest time to make Mother’s _____ list”.

Dinner is ready at 1pm and the family knows that we are NOT to be late or you will have to deal with Mother – but the little sister, Amanda, likes to laugh in the face of danger and shows up 30 minutes late with her family. Amanda now occupies the #2 slot on “the list”.

When the time comes for the "Thanksgiving Day Toast" my mother pulls out the bottle of wine for the toast and finds that my sister Pam had already consumed most of the bottle. Leaving only about a 1/2 ounce of wine for each of us to toast with. Pam took over the #1 spot on "the list".

As the day progressed – we saw Amanda draw eyebrows on her dog with a sharpie marker; we listened to my mother nag at my dad who answered her with the removal of his hearing aid; we hit up the liquor store for more wine and beer; we cracked jokes on my brother because he wasn't there to defend himself and we organized a search and rescue mission when Amanda’s husband went MIA. We later found him taking a nap outside in his car.

But by far the best part of the day is when we all gathered around Mother’s chair as she gave us our early Christmas gift. We each received a hot check.

In the end, my family is truly dysfunctional – but you better believe I am thankful for that dysfunction and wouldn’t change a single thing about who we are. I hope your Thanksgiving was as perfect as mine!