Christmas.  Ick.  Glad it is over.

My pup had his surgery on the 21st.  He was dropped off at 8 a.m. and I went home and proceeded to bake every Christmas cookie known to man to distract myself during his 6-hour surgery.  My grandma had requested I bring an appetizer and a dessert for Christmas Eve so I figured "perfect, I'll make some non-traditional cookies and stay busy while pup is away".  Half way through the timing I received a phone call from the surgeon.  The news was not good.  Pup had an ear infection (first one EVER, he's 12 y/o), a mouth infection that required four more teeth out (total of eight) and a low-grade heart murmur.  Merry Effin Christmas.  This added another $300 on to his already high hospital bill.  DH had paid me back in full the money he owed me, allowing me to get my credit card balance down to $300.  Now thanks to the surgery, it's like I didn't even make a payment.  Feeling very discouraged.

 On a good note, I finally got the call that I could go pick up my pup.  It was a WORLD of difference between his first ever tooth extraction many years ago vs this time.  He was walking on a leash, his tail was wagging, He is eating soft food, gets pain meds, an antibiotic, and ear meds twice a day but is acting like nothing happened.

With pup only being out of surgery for 3 days before Christmas, I had called ahead days before to get permission to bring him to Christmas Eve with my family so I could ensure his meds were given to him on time.  With the time schedule for the meds (6 a.m. and again 6 p.m..) and the 9 p.m.. pick up for visitation, it was easier to bring him then to try and get the timing figured out.  Everyone loves him so nobody minded.  Except Rich Aunt, who texted me when I originally asked with "New Dog doesn't get along well with other dogs, maybe (my pup) could change his mind".  

The day we are supposed to go over and celebrate I get an email from Grandma: "don't bother bringing a dessert, just bring the appetizer."  Great. 

We got to the "venue" that Rich Aunt rented for the family holiday.  Grandma decides we are eating at 2:30/3ish.  The dynamic was off...felt more like Christmas Lunch than dinner, and since she wanted everyone to show up at about 2:30 we basically arrived and sat down to eat immediately.  The dessert table had three huge trays of pre-made store bought cookies from a grocery store with a consistency of stale cardboard.  I felt a little slighted being told not to bring my dessert, oh well.  I have my pup on a leash and New Dog is on a leash as well.  They have not met yet.  I stay on the opposite side of the room to avoid confrontation.  Rich Aunt's husband asks me to bring pup over to "say hi".  Crap.

New Dog has been watching the room like a damn shark.  This is an unknown large room/building filled with family he doesn't know and his owners are there.  He is a very highly-trained guard dog and the poor thing thinks he is "on duty".  I say NO, I don't think it's a good idea.  Uncle starts to walk towards me with his dog.  My pup is in good spirits, always willing to meet a "friend" so his tail is already wagging and the whining starts.  Uncle grins and goes "See New Dog? See the nice puppy?"  New Dog starts wagging his tail as they come closer but I am not liking the way he is just focused on my dog.  I start to pull back on the leash to put more space between us and say a firmer "NO, back him up" to my Uncle, who ignores me and comes even closer.

 Tails are wagging still..all seems fine....New Dog lunges at my pup's face. 

I swear time stopped.  Uncle jerked New Dog's leash quickly and somehow the bite DOESN'T CONNECT.  I don't know who was smiling on us but I am forever grateful.  My blood boils just typing about this.  Who the heck brings a Czechoslovakian-trained imported guard dog to a family event?  I get that he "needs to get used to the family" but this was NOT the time or place to do it.

The night quickly went down-hill from there. 

Mom bought SS useless noisy plastic toy crap he has no interest in (glad he wasn't there for once), and tried to steal alcohol from everyone.  Found her drinking wine that someone brought straight out of the bottle.  She isn’t supposed to be drinking on her medication, but she is claiming the bottle is hers.  I know it's not, but I can't do anything about it since she is guarding "her bottle" like a crazy racoon.  Teen cousin is trying to sneak glasses of wine as well, the little 5-6 y/o girls are running back and forth and just screaming and stomping like a demented day-care.  At this point I'm ready to go home.  There was no Christmas music playing, mom was acting strange all night saying her "teeth were falling out", I swear one of my teen cousins was on some drug substance but no idea what.

We left at 6, which was a far cry from how long our family gatherings usually last.  The whole day felt forced, it makes me a little sad.  It's like every since my mom had her "mental breakdown" the holidays haven't been the same.  I wonder if my family blames us for this.

When we got home I was ready to try and get some time with DH before visitation, but he was too busy checking his phone every 15 minutes to make sure he left on time to get SS so I gave up.  So much for "working on us", we are going on another 3 month intimacy hiatus.  He finally leaves to get him.  They come home and the rest of the night is all "pway" and "snuggle" and crap so I gave up trying to enjoy the evening and went to bed while they "snuggled" and watched a movie.  SIL still has not responded to what time she is coming over Christmas Day, but she did confirm that the head count was four people.

Christmas Day will be another blog, I feel like this one is a little long.

edit: SIL confirmed head count of three people, not four sorry