As I'm staring out the window, I'm going over my mental check list. If there is any hope of surviving this trip with both my marriage, and a relationship, such as it is, with my parents in tact, I need to be prepared. Josh has high expectations for this trip. He grew up in a very loving home, with parent who supported his decisions and didn't try to force him into being their version of a perfect child. He didn't rebel because there was no need to.
Josh likes me for who I am and he really hasn't fully grasped that my parents don't. When he does, it isn't going to be pretty. So the longer I can go pleasing my parents by looking the right way and saying the right things and being a dutiful daughter- the less time there will be for things to get ugly and for Josh to feel the need to come to my defense. His reflection smiles at me and I take a deep breath. Right. Back to the list.
Christmas Presents: Perfectly wrapped and previously shipped. Not being a girl on a buget really made that easier. I was careful not to do anything too showy. I definitely shouldn't upstage my parents. But I think I did a good job. Having the capacity to spend a little more made it easier to find the perfect gifts for everyone. Of course, Mom had emailed lists and I certainly know better than to deviate from the approved categories.
Clothes for the Candlelight Service: Josh was a little surprised that he needed to pack his nicest suit, until I explained that if we were there, attending church was not optional. Now that there are grandchildren, we get to go to the 8pm service. If he'd listened to me on the arrival time, we could have skipped it. But now we're stuck. God help us.
Christmas Pajamas: Josh doesn't know about these yet but they are packed ready to go. Yes, we do the whole get a pair of PJs on Christmas Eve and wear them to bed so you have cute photos in the morning thing. When we were little we always attended the midnight service. More often than not I went to bed with a stinging backside under my PJs because I had misbehaved during church. At least I don't have to worry about that anymore.
Christmas Sweaters: This one could get me in trouble. There is a pretty good chance that someone in the family is going to get Josh an ugly Christmas sweater. The only way to avoid him having to wear it is a preemptive strike. Therefore, Josh and I are giving each other matching fair isle sweaters. The cuteness of us matching should circumvent the requirement to change into any clothing item that happens to come our way. Josh doesn't know about this either. I can't say he's going to love it, but it's for his own good.