Feeling Empty After Mom's Leftovers Are Gone

It's probably normal and very natural to feel a little down after a holiday is over. All the hype leading up to the big day celebration can be a good thing and a bad thing. Good in the sense that it gets you in the mood for all the fun and festivities, bad because if you hype anything up to much and get your expectations sky high, well most of the time you will feel let down when all is said and done. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I psyched myself up for eating a dead bird with gravy. I mean I like Thanksgiving, actually I love it, but it doesn't make or break my life. I had a very good Thanksgiving Day holiday in fact. It's just that lately I feel sort of like an abandon turkey head. I guess now that all the leftovers my Mom lovingly packed up and sent home with me have since been eaten, I'm just feeling a little empty inside.

It's not just my tummy that feels a little empty these days, it's my heart too. Don't read too much into that. I'm talking more about platonic/family love and not the romantic type. It was so nice having everyone in the family together again. Sure my sister found something to complain about at the table as usual, but I've come accustom to tuning her out and enjoying myself regardless. Her gripe, she felt jaded that her sweet potatoes didn't have enough marshmallow on them because I scooped most of them onto my plate, ha-ha! Hey, that's what you get for not sitting next to Dad where the first of everything gets passed to me first. Live and learn, live and learn.

Ok, so that might sounds a little mean or unthoughtful of me, but I'm not that bad of a guy. In fact, I tried to rectify the situation by really stepping up to the plate big time. Not only did I step up to the plate, I knocked that ball out of the park by OFFERING...not even being tortured, begged or guilted into going...but by OFFERING to take her to the mall on the biggest and craziest shopping day of the year - Black Friday. Here's the funny part. Obviously I try to avoid the mall on that day, but in the past I have gone shopping with her and instead of doing what most people do that day which is to buy gifts for others, we go and buy gifts for ourselves. Selfish and silly, right? I thought it was funny. We didn't plan to do that, but that is how it happened and never realized that until my Mom had pointed it out that we are probably the only people that go shopping that day and buy for ourselves rather than others. At least I know I liked the gift I picked myself out and didn't need to return it.

Anyway, because I don't get to see my sister very often, I wanted to spend a little extra time with her while she was here and that is really the main reason I offered what I did. I broke our previous Black Friday tradition and bought her something (a new outfit) instead of myself. Even complaining sisters need spoiled sometimes. Of course she was more than willing to accept, only a small/polite "no you shouldn't" argument was put up. We both know that is just a front. So even though all the delicious food from turkey day is gone and my family is once again spread out across the US, I feel a little empty inside and miss the close family gathering. However, that sadness melts away like warm marshmallows on sweet potatoes because soon Christmas will be here and we will all be together one more time. Then I will feel "full" again.

(See, you thought this post was going to be gross because of the photo, but it turned out to be sweet after all. Surprise!)