My kids are SO awesome!!!

[brandtrn]

As my BF friends know, I'm working throughout the holiday weekend. But my daughters are BOTH in town for this particular holiday, and having to work while they're here can be somewhat depressing, as much as I miss them and want so much to be able to spend a whole lot more time with them than I'll be capable of doing during this particular visit. That, along with the fact that our company didn't even bother to FEED us during this particular holiday (never mind the fact that just about every single local food place was closed for Christmas) OR to give ANY of us even so much as a freaking Christmas card, or even an e-mail sending holiday wishes COULD have made last night completely demoralizing, especially since we've got another unit full of psychos as "patients" this week. THIS is not surprising in the least. WHAT kind of person is actually going to schedule an "elective" surgery during the week of Christmas if one is NOT a freaking psycho -- unless of course, that person has NO local family/friends and is positively "starved" for attention (and yes, we tend to get a lot of THOSE folks during the holidays, too!)? So, last night COULD have been completely awful...I could have gone through the entire shift hungry and stressed out to the max, as I was for most of the night, with a skeleton crew and the call lights going off like popcorn. But I DID have a pleasant surprise!

My youngest daughter, bless her heart, ALWAYS tends to worry about me when I work the holiday. For some reason, the poor love feels "guilty" about enjoying a holiday meal when she knows that her Mom can't do the same. While I've always told her that I'm *perfectly* capable of enjoying MY holiday on a later date, she still tends to worry, and last night, she made it a point to deliver a beautiful Christmas dinner to me at my place of employment (consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, cheese, crackers, along with some kind of HEAVENLY salad made with apples and caramel, homemade pie, etc. Among the offerings was even some barbecued wild boar that her brother had shot earlier this week!). Not only did she deliver that beautiful Christmas dinner to me, but she brought her husband and children along with her so that the kids could say "hi" to Gramma. Am I a lucky woman, or what??? Granted, I didn't have all that much time to socialize with them last night, because it was crazy busy at work, BUT...I got a lovely meal delivered to me on a night when I thought I'd be forced to fend for myself with the vending machines, I got to snuggle with my beautiful grandchildren (as well as to show them off and boast about them to my co-workers), socialize for a few too-short minutes with my daughter and son-in-law, and had FABULOUS, helpful and companionable co-workers to get through Hell Night with! I've spent MANY a holiday weekend at work under far worse circumstances in the past!

The only sad thing about the night was that it was SO crazy that there was no way I was even able to EAT that beautiful meal until I'd been about eight hours into my shift...and yes, by then, it was ice cold, because I'd kept it in the staff refrigerator until such time as I could actually eat it. And, by then, I was SO hungry, I couldn't even be bothered to re-heat it, and ate it cold. Even cold, it was delicious! There's nothing like munching on food prepared and served to you with love! All things considered, it was a GREAT Christmas! I sincerely hope that all of my BF buddies enjoyed one that was equally (or even more) awesome!

[Icey]

How fantastic for you Cindy, and cold dinner or not, that was a lovely gesture by your daughter. Happy Boxing Day!

[pilvikki]

for next year!

[Icey]

Great idea. I'd be packing something up for myself as well, if I was Cindy.

[yogi]

It was a lovely Christmas with my family and the home cooking was fabulous. Ours was a typical Christmas and went as planned, but yours was genuinely an outstanding event. I have no doubt in my mind that the love that went into your dinner warmed it up plenty for you when you got around to eating it.