Ultimate Blog Challenge-Day one-Holiday and Home

Good Morning! I am doing an Ultimate Blog Challenge for the month of October and today the word was holiday! I want to talk about how the holidays, which we are about to get into affect my home. Growing up as a little girl, we always had my grandparents over for Thanksgiving and Christmas and this made it special. We usually had them over on two different days, as the two sets of grandparents did not get along. Once my grandfathers passed away, we actually got the two grandmothers over on the same day, which was nice. When I got married, we usually went to my parents for the holidays, until my parents passed away. Rory's parents were divorced and at that time I did not know my mother-in-law or his siblings. We would usually include my father-in-law for holidays. After my parents passed away, the holidays became just the four of us, because by that time we had our twin girls. When my dad was alive, he made the holidays special, as he loved to cook and he knew what to get me and my mother and sister for presents. I love the holiday season and its lights and festivities, but when it comes to holidays in general, it lacks its luster, as all Rory can think about is the food. My husband, because of his Asperger Syndrome, OCD and narcissism does not understand how to relate to other people and he really does not know how to relate to me or the girls. At this point in my life, I really feel more like his servant than his wife. It is really all about him. Special occasions, in general, are difficult. It has always been my dream to have a large family gathering on holidays but so far I have really never had that opportunity. Most of my relatives live on the East Coast and the only time, I had the opportunity to see most of them was at my great aunt's celebration of life. It was so nice at that time, to meet all of them. I am thankful for my daughters who do know what I like and they make the holidays special. I am thankful that Mari likes to cook and we can do holiday meals together. I so miss my Dad's cooking. In the past, I have tried to find a replacement, but what I really miss is the special times I had with my dad and it is hard to move on when you really have no replacement. Another holiday remembrance I have is when my mom, dad, grandmother and I would go back to my sister's, when she lived in New York. That was a special time for me. There was the lights and the festivities and the family getting together. Home is supposed to be where your heart is and except for my daughters, my heart is not in this house. When the girls of us travel or we are at home without Rory, the house feels very peaceful and relaxed. This morning I was up at 6 and did my normal morning routine. Rory had to be out the door early, as he is having a physical done on Wednesday and they are doing lab work this morning. Mari and I are going to do our park walk. Marissa was not feeling well yesterday, so we will see how she feels. Mari has school today from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mari and I walked 2 miles on our park walk and then came home and had breakfast. Doing my morning house stuff. Going to take a nap, as I didn't sleep the best last night. Had lunch and took Mari to school and then did errands. It is 100 degrees here and this is October! Came home and put stuff away. Rory had picked up his uniform for a job he hopefully will have and was complaining about the cost of things. Having quiet time and enjoying the time. After running errands, I work on a list of things and this afternoon, I worked on my other blog, which is gypsymomvirtualconcierge.blogspot.com. The other things I work on are editing pictures, projects I have to do; such as getting my daughters health insurance and organizing our storage unit. Having things organized is important to me, as it keeps things peaceful and not in chaos. I need to start making dinner for the three of us, as Mari is at school. Thanks to a group in FB and some blogs, I have gotten interested in healthy cooking. Rory gets his dinner served on a tray and Marissa and I sat downstairs and watched TV. Before you say "what?" to Rory getting his dinner served on a tray in our room, it is called, you pick your battles. He would come downstairs and non-stop talk and watch what he wants on TV, so it is better off this way. Going to edit some pictures, leave to pick up Mari at 9 and come home and go to bed. I will say good night. Trudi