I survived Thanksgiving at my Aunt's, but not without a couple of bumps in the road...

First, my cousin gave me a big hug and congratulated me on my sobriety (of almost 2 1/2 years, so why now?), and my aunt made a point of having a sparkling grape juice toast this year, even though everyone was drinking last year, and we never have a toast. It bothered me/made me feel uncomfortable.

My sister is lucky she's not sporting a shiner this morning...
She was talking about how advanced my nephew is in his academics, then (because she's an ***hole) moved right on to talk about how my brother (who is 8 years younger than me) didn't get the grades she wanted, or my mother would have expected him to get had she been living. To lighten things up, and demonstrate how high my mother's standards were, I mentioned that I got an unsatisfactory in gym when I was in elementary school and she lost it. My sister decided to bring up the fact that I got an "F" in science in the 8th grade. I said it was first period, and was a hard year for me, and I was either late or absent a lot. My sister (who was at a different school at that time) said it wasn't first period, and I argued back that it was, and I remembered it clearly because it was the year that my mother was first diagnosed with cancer... but she continued to argue that it "was NOT first period." I told her to drop it. She told me I started it, and I told her she took the conversation down the wrong road, and it was time to end it. Then I got up and left the room. She always needs me to look smaller than I am, no matter the subject, and she always insists she remembers my life better than I do.

She also made a point of saying she knew she was late because she arrived after me. I haven't been in the habit of running late in YEARS, and I reminded her she was late last year.

She continued to speak, in my mind, to and about everybody inappropriately, so she got the death stare most of the time I was there. My oldest nephew sometimes mutters under his breath now when she spews her crap... because he's old enough to know she's full of it.

BTW, she tells people she raised me... and we're 15 months apart...
She's ****ing nuts.

My aunt has lost a lot of weight and looks good. She mentioned once that it was easier because they had no food to eat, but otherwise did not mention money, which was a relief. I couldn't tell what's going on with her or my cousin. Maybe they were making a big deal out of my sobriety because they are trying to kick their habits, too. IDK. But they didn't seem altered to me in any way yesterday.

My turkey breast took 45 minutes longer to cook in my oven than recipes and cooking charts suggested, and when the plastic thingie popped up, the turkey was about 140 degrees (should be 165 degrees) lol. I'm glad I put it in early. We ended up eating at 8pm, and dinner came out really good.

I was/am exhausted.