WE GOT COMPANY!

I hate being annoyed, especially by someone who is being deliberately annoying. When people don't respect boundaries, and feel entitled to do whatever they want in spite of the impact, it only compounds your disapproval of them. They don't care how you feel, so you wonder why you should care about what you say to them concerning their inconsideration, and intrusiveness. Sometimes it's hard when you've been taught to be a polite Christian. The lesson works it's way into your DNA and sends a signal that arrests your entire throat, silences you and prevents you from exercising free speech. If people only knew what was forming in your brain that the Lord won't allow you convert into audible sentences, they would think long and hard before they decided to try your patience, or take a chance on finding out whether your niceness has a limit. If they only knew what you knew, their conversation wouldn't be so deliberately informative. They wouldn't keep trying to push your buttons. Just because you've been diligently projecting sweet-meek-and-mild baby Jesus all your life doesn't mean you haven't cultivated whip-wielding-turning-over-tables-in-the-temple Jesus, too.

Some people spend far too much time trying to convince you that they are a welcomed member of your family. You know, however, that your mother did not birth them and their presence is merely tolerated, so I suppose instead of being annoyed, you should be amused by their behavior. They really don't want to know what you know.

When it's not your house, you have no say about who is welcome on ANY day, still you wonder about an individual who would leave their wife and children on Thanksgiving day and show up at someone else's home, and sit around and ask personal questions, and gossip about everybody from the pulpit to the door. You wonder why it's allowed to go on. Did it ever occur to some people that MAYBE, just MAYBE, on Thanksgiving Day, people might want to spend some time with their own family members? Even when you're an adult, you remember the rules established in your parent's house. "Be considerate of others"; "Think before you speak"; "Don't embarrass yourself"; "Always conduct yourself properly"; "Don't ever allow an ignorant person to cause you to stoop to their level"; "Ignore a fool".

If I had said something; if I had unleashed what I wanted to say, I would have been wrong, the conversation and visit would have abruptly ended, and Thanksgiving would have been officially over. It may very well be home, but it's not my house. Still, I was livid that once again, we had a Thanksgiving crasher. I promptly took out my frustration on the pots and pans. That really wasn't fair to them. They did nothing except be conduits for a great meal. Now, they're sparkling clean and my hands are wrinkled and white as a sheet. I tried to make as much noise as I could, run as much water and occasionally turn on the garbage disposal to avoid hearing the gossip-filled conversation. Anything to keep from blurting out what was trying its best to spill out of my mouth. "Excuse me, you messy, inconsiderate jerk, WHERE IS YOUR FAMILY, AND WHY AREN'T YOU WITH THEM? IT'S THANKSGIVING DAY, YOU CREEPY, STRIFE-LOVING, TALE-BEARING MORON! "But that wouldn't have been nice.

I hate the devil.

I really hate to think I lost the battle today, but when that car pulled up, my whole attitude plummeted. Sometimes you don't WANT to mature or nice. Nothing I would have said to the individual would have been good, so I clammed up after "hello" and got to scrubbing. Did he just stop by to talk about people? Why? My grandmother always said, "A dog that will bring a bone will carry one." I have come to believe that conversations with some people should be restricted to subjects like time of day and the weather--period.

When he left, it was as if a contrary spirit left with him. It was like a cloud was lifted and the sunshine returned. Thanksgiving got some of it's happy back, but it was tarnished. Darn. Fact is that friendship with your parent(s) doesn't not necessarily guarantee friendship with you, and some folk try waaaay too hard.

Some people are up to no good and they know that you know it. They know that you have no intention to entertain them, or even pretend that you approve of their words or actions. They try to engage you and make it seem as if you're the one with the problem--and you ARE. You have to figure out how to forget about what you know about them, and endure being in the same room with a lewd, too familiar, inconsiderate gossip, and, for the sake of the occasion, and out of respect for your host(s), keep your mouth shut.

I hope he got a good laugh at my expense, because there simply was no hiding my displeasure. I need to figure this out before Christmas. I don't know how long I'm going to be able to keep quiet.