As you may know, Chef and I have a business together (sadly).  Anyway Chef, about couple years ago, grew very tired of a local supply house because the new manager was horrid and many mistakes were made.

I liked the old supplier because they just took a credit card as a point of sale instead of getting a statement at the end of the month and so many days to pay Etc plus they gave gift cards to a local grocery store.

What is worse-- when your SKs are overly polite and you sense that they are struggling and "coping" with your existence or when they are just real. 

I had a great Christmas with the skids and in-laws. SD21 drives me bonkers at times, but she's always respectful towards me now. SD18, who used to be my best bud a few years ago, had a hard time accepting our marriage. She's coming around. I think their BM found something else to occupy her time rather than making snide comments about me.

I'm a few provinces away getting ready for my dad's funeral. He was young (64) when he passed from Brain and bone cancer, within six months of diagnosis.  We were a bit estranged, but it looks like a ton of people are showing up tomorrow.

For those unfamiliar with shunning, it’s a form of social rejection often associated with stories from the past—like Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, where communities ostracized individuals deemed ‘immoral’. Over the past several decades, shunning has evolved into a more subtle but equally damaging practice. It has become a negative art of avoidance, one that can deeply hurt and alienate its target.

I expressed to her I strongly dislike being. A step parent. It’s been a Brutal Christmas. I bought him a $400 steam deck. $30 robot, $15 volcano, $30 science experiments for us to do and much more shit. I did all the presents with him while she stood around trying to play with his toys by herself. All for his mom to need help with something else financially..

I'm sure most of you are aware of the absolute crap show  SD15 pulled the whole week of Christmas. She has not apologized for her behavior nor did she even reach out to DH to even tell him Merry Christmas. I have had my fair share of limits with SD, I tried to be nothing but nice to SD and I got pooped on, I tried disengage and it worked for a while until crap like this comes up and it absolutely unavoidable. I know it's not my right to tell DH that SD is not allowed here due to her behavior but I really really don't want to be around her.

We had such a fun Christmas. DH got me the CREAMi ice cream maker that he saw on TV Lol. It is a very uncharacteristic gift from DH but he thought I would have fun with it and he is right. DH was super cute and he froze me a premade mix so that I could try out the CREAMi right away. I have since made two types of ice cream and both turned out to be good. It will be really fun to use in the summer. I am going to try some healthier recipes next like frozen greek yogurt, fruit sorbet, and protein ice cream.

I never used to. Saturday We went to DH's parents and saw SS18 for the first time since he's been home from college. DH and him didn't talk for the first hour and DH ended up telling SS that they needed to talk about his college plans, because if SS thought he could just ignore DH and DH would still pay for SS's cellphone, car ins. And health ins, and co-signs all of his college loans, he had another thing coming because DH would stop paying all of it. SS got pouty but agreed to talk later.
 

Summary....

She's almost 19, acts like a 10 yo still. Didn't bathe till this morning,  wash her face or brush her teeth. I know this because the towels I left for her were untouched until this morning. The day she leaves. I told DH the reason her hair looked so dark is because it was so dirty.

She gave DH a pack of dried seaweed that he likes for his gift (suspect it was from BMs cupboard). I got nothing. She gave us a house gift of two trivets she made in high school. Which is ok but obviously out of convenience.

Apologies are hard.

DH apologized to me for all the years we went to Skidville for the holidays. We fought about it every year. I wouldn't have minded as much if they came to our house once in awhile. Last year was likely the last trip and even then I didn't have to see either skid.

I still carry anger about it. I should have refused when he could still travel by himself. But I accepted his apology and didn't dredge up the residual hurt. And I appreciate his acknowledging that he never once spent Christmas with my family, never saw my traditions.