I'm eating my words for Christmas dinner

I'm having to take back all the nasty things I said about my parents in the previous two posts after receiving a cute little "1st Christmas" card for her with a $100 check tucked inside, a very sweet gesture. OK? I said something nice! I take it back! All that stuff I said! OK?

I took that $100 check and the other Christmas cash Elliot got and opened a bank account for her yesterday. The child's savings account came with a change sorter/paper money bank so little Elliot can save her money to add to the account. I plan on teaching her that she's got to work for money and that she's got to save for the things she wants. I don't want her to grow up not knowing how to be responsible with money and how to care for the things she owns by working for them and buying them herself.

But enough about that! Merry Christmas!

Ho ho hum

So much spending and effort has been put into this whole Christmas thing already, and I doubt the day itself will actually match all the hype.

I just get more and more mad every time I think about my parents not getting Elliot anything for Christmas, especially since gifts keep rolling in for her from Chris' family and friends. Nothing at all from my family for her, and, in fact, not one Christmas card from anyone in my family except my parents.

They say Christmas is about giving, not receiving, but - screw that! I don't want to feel like I'm thinking of and appreciating the special people in my life and not being remembered and appreciated in return.

A happy little Christmas "fuck you!"

The tree is assembled. The decorations are hung. The presents are stacking up. It's almost Christmas, my favorite holiday of the year - behind Thanksgiving.

The greeting cards are rolling in as well. Yesterday, I received the obligatory card from my parents and opened it anticipating the yearly $200 check, the only way they have shown any sort of kindness or giving since I turned 18 and their poor substitute for any actual love or good feelings.

No check. Just a generic card signed with love from dad and mom that not only contained no check but made no mention of Elliot at all. No check for us. Nothing for Elliot. You know, their granddaughter? The one they've never met? The one they were supposed to meet this summer but now aren't going to meet because they cancelled their trip and didn't tell me but told my brother who then told me?

So. To recap: no check for maarmie. No gift for or even mention of Elliot.

I called my brother yesterday to see if he got a check. To find out if this "no check" thing is universal and not just a happy little Christmas "fuck you" from them to me. I left a message and haven't heard back.

I know I've mentioned before that the annual check is pretty meaningless to me, and, don't get me wrong, I don't really care about its absence. What I DO care about is that they can't even see past their greed enough to send their new granddaughter a stupid little trinket for her first goddamn Christmas! They so totally suck.

Update: My brother didn't get a check, either. He guesses they're too strapped for cash right now. Too strapped that they couldn't get their granddaughter a stuffed animal for her first Christmas, I suppose, but not strapped enough to forgo that gambling vacation for my dad's birthday. Bloody hell!