If Nancy had a perfect table like this in her home, it’s only because her children were terrified of the consequences of displeasing her or putting a toe out of line. Good parents understand that kids will be kids, and that there’s no reason to bust out the white linens and fine china every single night.

Every month, I go to a potluck & games party with a bunch of my friends. The plates are paper, the cups are plastic, the tablecloth is the hostess’ standard one for the season.

It’s the company that makes it cheerful, exciting, fun, hospitable, etc.

I’m sensing that Nancy likes fancy tablecloths and fine china, and therefore they must be the will of god. There’s nothing wrong with liking a particular aesthetic, but pretending god likes it too is not very sane.

The phone call thing sounds like it might be a version of the common complaint that people my age spend too much time on our phones instead of interacting with real people (or god, depending on the complainant’s religious leanings). I wonder if Nancy was picturing a bored housewife on the phone to her friends all day, back in the days before social media when to do this you had to make voice calls on a landline. People like Nancy often discourage any socializing that isn’t specifically god-oriented.

She is reusing an old list or she would know that calls are not what phones are used for today.

The thinking is the foundation for it all, though – no one has the “power” to Not Respect Mah Authorit-tah!

On ‘eliminating uneccessary phone calls’… well, actually, yes. I had one kid (1), and an explicit 50/50 co-parenting deal with my husband. But oh, those phone calls! When she was 18 months old, I started an evening exercise class, secure in the knowledge that he would feed her and put her to bed. Five weeks in a row, I returned at 9pm to find her crying at the front door because she had not eaten yet. The culprit? Incessant phone calls from manfriends he couldn’t possibly be rude to by blowing them off. Turned out the 50/50 deal was on the basis that he picked his hours at his leisure and I picked up all the rest. It wasn’t the kid’s fault so I gave up the exercise class and much else. How does it sound when it’s put that way?

Ugh what a lazy bum. Especially since 18 month olds go to bed at like 7. He could have called his buddy back in like a half an hour.

My guess is that at least part of Nancy’s issues with phone calls is that you might call and talk to someone who has a more normal life and then start getting ideas about being treated like a human being.

Men are always more important than women and children. Haven’t Nancy and Doug and Lori and Larry and Tim and their lot made that clear? /s

Oh, wait! She only lives in TN. She’s from NZ, so she might not be into this song. Folks her age really get into it as you can see by Bill Gaither.

He was rude to make Daughter go hungry.

Can’t have that.

Anyhow, my husband’s brother, the one Christian started commenting on one of the Christmas songs, talking about shepherds by their flocks by night. He was wondering if we could have shepherds pie, with real shepherd.

So your brother-in-law went “A Little Priest” on you? In that case, I think he and I would get along well.

I probably only noticed this because I’ve seen the Tim Burton film adaptation of Sweeney Todd 3 times, but the way he phrased it sounds like one of Mrs. Lovett’s lyrics from “A Little Priest”-“shepherd’s pie peppered with actual shepherd on top”. I can see why you might think Hannibal Lecter, though!
Here’s 2 versions of the number for anyone who’s interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqpyPKx0Oao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnnVd3wgTX0

Tim who?

Oh, I totally forgot about Sweeney Todd. I love both the musical and the play. I’m going to have good songs stuck in my head this morning! Thank you! I wish you were there at Thanksgiving!

I do big family dinners on paper plates and tell people to help themselves to a buffet on the kitchen counter. Not pretty, but quite delicious and a way to get family together often without a ton of stress. I prefer happy sounds of children to doing things picture perfect.

More power to whomever wants to do their family traditions however they want. If you love finery or convenience, you have the freedom and liberty to choose either one. Nancy fails to realize that it is not the window dressing of what you do in your own tradition that is important. The glue that holds all of those specifics together comes from the shared love of the company there and the joy that you bring to being with one another. If you burn the pie or you break a glass or spill the milk, it is only an opportunity to express love and gratitude for the most important things — the people who are there and are safe to be themselves.

Vivat difference!

That’s when most wives find out they already had one child all along, and caring for a 180 lb toddler and a new baby is way too much work. Or the husband decides that any time that his wife isn’t spending on his needs, especially the little head needs, which means it’s time to get a new house slave9.

The moment I first saw the title, I knew it was about Nancy Campbell!

Ohh yeah, hadn’t heard from him in a while.

Whenever I get frustrated with Nancy, Lori, Debi et al I work on my fiction where all three of them are kidnapped away to a feminist compound. I always have Nancy twittering on and on about beautiful tables like a mad woman

Not very nice. Did you break up with this clod?

Well, I guess I did not say what SIL brought for dessert…..

People have different tastes, and that’s o.k. 🙂