^Oh yikes! STBXW #2 took me a minute. I’m assuming she’s not the MOB.
I’ll actually be leaving North Jersey to our place in South Jersey, which has become our recent TG tradition. It has more space and is in reasonable driving distance for some, and enough room to stay overnight for my kids and sister.
^^
So many Jersey folks! Central Jersey here.
I have to google STBXW now, only thing I could guess is XW…lol
My guess is Soon To Be Ex Wife
Also, I live between North and South Jersey now, but grew up on Shore of Central (which either does or does not exist.)
@garland, no, STBX#2 is not the MOB. Thank goodness.
My niece and nephew haven’t gotten much support, emotional, financial or otherwise, from either parent over the years, so I feel rather protective about making sure my niece’s wedding day is as stress- and conflict-free as possible.
But in happy news, S1 is flying cross-country for the wedding and Thanksgiving!
I have 3 siblings. When we all got through college one or two of us was usually home with the parents for Thanksgiving, but we didn’t do much planning. Maybe someone had to work, or someone’s in-laws expected us. Then there was the one year. 30 years ago. None of us came home. My parents had Thanksgiving by themselves, and my mother cried. Over the next year my father found time to sit down privately with each of us. He had cancer, which we all knew, and didn’t live much longer. He told us that it was unacceptable for us to leave our Mother alone at Thanksgiving, and that it should never happen again. We didn’t all have to come every year, but someone needed to come every year.
The next year we all came, and we have all had Thanksgiving together, with whatever spouses and kids we had at the time, and it is everyone’s favorite holiday. It has been written into 2 divorce/custody agreements, and the Atlantic is regularly crossed to have this holiday together.
When one BIL became ex-BIL my kids wondered who would take over the job of telling inappropriate jokes at the Thanksgiving table. So far, no one has.