Reactions..........

Reacting....it is so easy to do especially when tempers flare and the holidays can bring out the best and the worst in us. Schedules are tight filled with work, Christmas get-togethers and the time consuming holiday shopping. Of course with the holiday shopping, budgets are stretched thinner than a snapped elastic to afford the perfect presents for the kids or every person you know by name and then patience teeters on the fence between sanity and stress, yelling at anybody daring to smile in your general direction.
Like last night, I was fine, calm even, getting me and my boys ready for a huge "rent a hall to accommodate them all" family Christmas gathering. This particular gathering was for my husband's stepmother's side of the family. My husband suddenly gets in a hurry to get going and the rest of us are not moving fast enough. He always behaves this way when it comes to his family. With anything else, including my family get-togethers, it's "whatever" and the rest of us literally wait on him.
I could whine with more details to prove my point but when it boils down to it, there is never a point. He was really upset throwing things, upsetting me to get to a gathering where he only knew a handful of people out of the whole hall. I admit I reacted in return, reminding him he could just as easily go alone which escalated the situation. Moments like that I don't understand why the frantic rush and emotional upset and then both of us are so upset neither is speaking to the other.
I shake my head and do my best to forget about it, that is until it happens again.
There's a pattern, a reason for the behaviour. To me, it feels like a power struggle. At least I can say I'm aware of it.
But for right now I'm not going to analyze it to death, I'm going to do my very best to stay in the present moment and enjoy every sweet second of the remainder of the Christmas season.