Aaron’s mum (YaYa as she is now known when Hannah is present. Hannah has a lot of grandparents, so we have to differentiate somehow) is coming tomorrow to visit for Christmas. Sounds exciting right? Well, it is, until Grandma turns into a shaking little ball of stressed out craziness. Grandma has this overwhelming urge to make everything perfect for anyone and everyone who comes to visit. She has this need to feed people until they almost explode. I suppose that comes from being married to a greek for so many years. Or maybe that’s just Grandma. I’m not too sure. She made “salmon” patties and some eggplant and tomato thing just so YaYa can “open the fridge and have a snack whenever she wants.” It’s like she is expecting the queen to come and grace our presence while tasting Grandma’s abundance of food. Stress is oozing out of Grandma, in the form of yelling and short-temperedness. You can feel the stress from about 10 feet away.
Before we moved in with Grandma, we stopped telling her we were coming for a visit and started just showing up instead. If we let Grandma know we were coming first, she’d spend all day cleaning and then greet us with a roast chicken, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread rolls, pasta salad, regular salad, gravy, boiled vegetables, and of course, pavlova for desert. We don’t care if the house is dusty, some dishes are in the sink, and mess is on the floor. We’re family. We just want to have a nice time together. Same goes for when YaYa visits.
Grandma keeps bags and bags of “bedclothes” (as she calls them, aka sheets etc.) in the top of the linen press (linen closet) just for when YaYa comes to visit. Aaron climbed up the ladder to reach them, pulling out bag after bag of, well, I’m not sure really.
“What’s in this bag Grandma?” Aaron asked.
“Towels. Good ones, brand new ones.” Grandma said.
“So why don’t you use them?”
“I already have plenty of towels.”
“Umm…So why don’t we give them away to the needy?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll need them sometime.”
“What if I have to go in a home? I’ll need to bring my own linen and towels!” Oh Grandma….
(Laughing) “Grandma!” Aaron exclaimed.
Some of the bags at the top of the linen press
“But I’m poor, and I have enough towels to last me the rest of my life!” She was starting to get really cranky now. It’s like she thinks there will be a towel apocalypse and she must keep every towel she comes in contact with or else she will be wet and cold and may not survive.
“You’re not poor anymore Grandma, we’re here!”
“You never know what can happen, you never know what things you’ll need. If you keep something long enough, you’ll find a use for it.” Sigh. This is a prime reason for Grandma’s hoarding.
We didn’t persuade Grandma into getting rid of anything in the linen press,
Bring it on, we're ready
even though she has an entire shelf full of towels, another full of sheets, and of course, the top section full of plastic bags which are full of new all of the above. Aaron, Hannah and I have one half of one shelf. Total. Bring on the towel apocalypse, we’re ready.
Mommy Adventures 
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