Surprise!

That was the theme of my Thanksgiving weekend. I know, it's not really a traditional theme like "Turkey!" or, for my family, "Pie!" or, something more all-encompassing like "Weight Gain!" Don't get me wrong, those themes also ran through the weekend, but the over-arching theme was definitely "Surprise!"

Let me start from the beginning. You see, now that Alex and I live in Michigan, we are about an 11 hour drive from his parents house in Minnesota. In contrast, we are about a $500.00/person flight (on the holidays) from Utah. On top of that, if we fly anywhere, we can't take our furry children with us. As a result, we have spent the last two Thanksgiving's and Christmases with The Mettlers. While I looooove celebrating with The Mettlers (they really know how to do it), I also miss spending the holidays with my mom and sister. This year, for the first time, Olivia lives within a 10 hour drive from Ann Arbor. So I hatched a scheme to go down to her house for Thanksgiving instead of to The Mettlers and to convince mom to fly out to MN for Christmas. Well, the plan seemed fated to fail. Olivia had been invited by Dennis to spend Thanksgiving with his sister in St. Louis and accompany him to his cousin's wedding the same weekend. In addition, I could tell Alex wasn't too thrilled about skipping Thanksgiving with his family, making some lame excuse about the Subaru not being in good enough shape to do the drive down and back to Illinois and then out to MN for Christmas. And, after all, Barb had already bought us tickets to the dinner theater. I, ever the supportive wife and sister, told Alex we could go to MN and told Olivia it was more important for her to be with Dennis and that maybe we could instead see each other over Christmas. Meanwhile, I searched for Christmas airfare for my mom and was disappointed to find that flights to MN from Salt Lake were exorbitantly expensive for the dates that would work for my mom. Oh well, I said to mom, she'll be coming out to MI when the baby is born anyway. I'll just see her them.

Skip ahead now to Wednesday last week. Alex and I started our Thanksgiving pilgrimage to Minnesota at about 7:30 in the morning. As usual, I called Olivia around 9:30 for some entertainment on the drive. She was headed to St. Louis to go to Costco to buy more flooring for her house and to shop for a dress to go to the wedding in. We talked and talked about what she should buy and what the wedding would be like and how it would be to meet Dennis' family etc. etc. In the afternoon I called my mom for more entertainment. Her phone was off, but she called me back when Alex and I were about 20 minutes from his parent's house. She was driving down to grandma and grandpa's and couldn't talk for long. She had turned her phone off for a meeting earlier in the day and had forgotten to turn it back on. OR SO THEY SAID.

When we arrived at The Mettlers, everything was as it should be--Barb was home cooking lots of food, asking lots of questions, and giving lots of hugs. Then Alex's brother Matt and his girlfriend Meghan arrive. Everyone is chatting like normal, and about 10 minutes later the doorbell rings. When I go to the door, who should be standing there but mom! Woah! I'm shocked out of my pants! So mom and I and Barb sit down and are chatting away talking about their scheming plan to get mom out to MN and how cool it is that Olivia gets to go to a wedding with Dennis when Alex's sister Beth arrives home. At the same time the doorbell rings again. When I go to the door, who should be standing there but Liv! Woah! I'm shocked out of....my shoes!

You might think that's the end of the story (and maybe you're wishing it was). But it's not. Skip ahead to Saturday morning, two days after Thanksgiving. Alex's grandma had come down with a case of cellulitis below her ear. It was very painful for her and as a result, she wasn't going to be able to come to the usual Saturday family dinner. So Barb asked Alex and I if we would mind visiting her on Saturday morning since we didn't get to see her much on Thanksgiving. So we headed to Emily's house at about 8:30 in the morning. (Thank god I decided to shower and dress nicely, not something I do every morning). We chatted with her for about an hour and then headed back to the house. When we arrived, there were about 30 extra cars parked around the driveway and a suspicious pile of gifts on the dining room table (visible from the car). Yes, it was a surprise baby shower complete with a gourmet brunch. I guess I was shocked out of my hat?

Now, in hindsight, I should have been able to figure this out.

I mean, there was that email that my grandma sent out to all her friends and family that said "since Olivia and Bonnie are going to spend thanksgiving in Minnesota, we're going to celebrate without family this year." I, of course, assumed Grandma was confused. This assumption was corroborated by Olivia who reassured me that she had talked to grandma and straightened her out.

Then there was Alex's lame excuse for not wanting to drive to Olivia's for Thanksgiving.

Then there was the strange way that Alex kept pushing me to finish the baby registry and send it to his mom. Why on earth did he care so much that the baby registry be done now instead of in a few days?

Then there was the fact that Olivia was awake and driving at 7:30 in the morning. Olivia doesn't get up that early, especially not just for dress shopping, no matter who she's trying to impress (sorry Dennis).

And then there was the way that mom suddenly ended our conversation in the car, rather than chatting while she drove. She loves chatting while she drives, mostly to keep herself awake.

And then there was the shifty way that Alex went to answer the door. He kept glancing around at me like I should answer it. I never answer the door there because it's never for me. It took him several minutes to finally decide that he should answer it.

Then there was the suspicious way Barb prepared her turkey and stuffing on Friday night while mom and Alex and I worked on a puzzle in the next room. I don't ever remember her doing that before... And I don't remember the smell of sausage either...

Then there was the way Alex suddenly decided we needed to leave Grandma's on Saturday morning. When I asked what the rush was, he said "Oh, I just have a lot to do today" What? When we go to The Mettlers, we don't do anything--that's the joy of it!

But, I can't be too hard on myself. Those Mettlingers can be pretty convincing and conniving when they want to be. I guess I just can't trust them. Small price to pay for a really, really wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.