Laid back

We decided that this year we will not be driving to New Orleans to spend Thanksgiving with family this year. This is the VERY first year that I will not be seeing my parents and the rest of my family on a day when the people I'm most thankful for is them. It's tough, but it really wasn't a hard decision for me to make. The decision was based off two main factors: money and Jayden. It costs us $80 round trip to make the drive (which actually isn't that bad), but we'd have to make the drive all over again next week for Jayden's MRI and EEG at Tulane. Considering it's almost Christmas and Jayden's birthday and his party is right around the corner, it's just not in the budget to travel to New Orleans twice in one week. Also, my family is HUGE! HUGE! HUGE! Seriously huge. And we like to all have Thanksgiving dinner together. So imagine a family of 50+ people (and I'm not counting my great great uncles and 4th cousin removed. These are aunts, uncles and 1st cousins and their kids) all seating at tables that are lined up like cafeteria tables very close together. All talking at the same time. Laughing. Utensils hitting fine china. Babies crying. Kids screaming. All sensory overload for Jayden. Last year was horrible for him and we were just beginning to notice that something just wasn't "right" with Jayden. So now we know what isn't right, so it wouldn't be fair for us to purposely put him in that situation. Also, there are a few in my family who just do not agree with his diagnosis. One of them is my really close cousin, but she is VERY opinionated. And maybe I am just uber sensitive (okay I admit, I am VERY sensitive) but it hurts to hear people tell me that I'm babying him and I need to let him grow up. Or that he's a sissy (yeah my uncle told me that at the reunion in August). Or to have other people feeling like they need to step in to help me discipline and they yell at my child, making him go into a fit of rage for me to attempt to calm down. To them, he is just a bad child. And that hurts. So I'm not putting my child, nor myself, through that this year. We will be spending a quiet Thanksgiving dinner here at home. I haven't decided yet where we will go for dinner b/c I'm not a big Turkey and stuffing eater but my hubby is. Cracker Barrel will probably be the equivalent of having dinner with my HUGE family, so that's out! What I do know is that I will enjoy my day with my little family of 3 and thank God for blessing us all with each other and with our health. Have a happy holiday everyone!