Happy Holidays For Fun On The Run- Travels Of The Pawning Planners/Texas Twins Events Team…

Every year buying gifts for our older children becomes more and more complicated due to the “competition” of who got what and who wanted this or that. 

While Maddy slept in my lap last night, I watched the reactions of my eldest niece Leigh Ann Blais as everyone opened gifts (for a second time) at my friend Tammy Leggets house.  As usual, my saucy sidekick twin sister, Cindy Daniel and I had asked all of our adult children what they wanted prior to shopping for them since every year “so and so got a better gift than I did” becomes an issue.  Both Cindy and I are relieved when Christmas is over simply because there’s always a family fued no matter how much money we spend with Leigh Ann.  Being the eldest, she’s also the hardest to please around here. 

This year Leigh Ann had asked for “no gifts, we need gas money to move to California.”  Knowing that having Leigh Ann watch everyone else open gifts while having nothing to open herself would cause hurt feelings, Cindy and I along with her sister Stephaney Mahaney bought gifts anyhow. 

How did Cindy’s oldest child become so hard to please?  Well, she was born first and basically had two mothers giving her whatever she wanted (my twin sister and I).  When her sister Stephaney came along, Leigh Ann told us both to give her back at 4 years old.  My son, Robert Hafele is the youngest of the bunch and like Stephaney, he’s easy to please and not nearly as interested in what everyone else unwrapped.  My son is easygoing as a whole anyhow and finds this “competition” every year as disturbing as everyone else. 

       This year, Maryssa and Makenna pitched in to wrap gifts and inadvertently mixed up the name tags.  I had taken a tumble in the driveway and reinjured my right foot a few days prior to Christmas and was having trouble getting around and even driving to handle last minute details since my driving foot was now swollen and painful. 

It’s become somewhat of a running joke in my family that whenever my niece, Leigh Ann, throws a fit, somebody explains it by saying “it’s Leigh Ann!”  From the restaurant choice to the gifts and everything in between- my niece Leigh Ann is hard to please. 

Leigh Ann is also a new mother and doesn’t consider that the many gifts bestowed on her daughter “Maddie” are part of her “Christmas Take.”  Frankly, I’m hoping that becoming a mother will teach her that it isn’t “always all about her” and tone down the “me, me, me” syndrome. 

Our Little Pawners, Maryssa and Makenna Mahaney, don’t care what they opened for Christmas, they are saving their money to buy hover boards much to our dismay.  Let’s face it- nobody in the Texas Twins Events Team is “graceful.”  In fact, when I was modeling, I accidentally walked right off a runway and broke my leg at the Dallas Apparel Mart.  Not being one to quit easily, I returned to finish “pulling my rack” in a cast because I have a very strong work ethic and because both my dresser and makeup artist depended on me to get them paid. 

Steve Daniel was able to be home for the holidays which was a special treat for our family as he is usually out of town working.  The twins, Maryssa and Makenna stayed with my husband and I several days at WorthamWorld due to the overcrowding at my twins house aka DanielDivaDiggs. 

My niece, Leigh Ann Blais returned home several months ago for a visit and explained that she had bought a one way ticket when I picked her up.  You see, her husband is in the Navy and although she thought we would miss her more than age would miss us when leaving for Washington last year, Cindy and I were right- she missed our goofy family more!  Leigh Ann didn’t leave home until she was 30 years old and enjoys the benefits of living at the DanielDivaDiggs with rent free conditions, no chores or real responsibilities and commandeering her old bedroom (now Maryssa’s) as well as the hall bathroom.  Cindy’s house only has two bathrooms and three bedrooms upstairs with the other bathroom located in my sisters bedroom.  My twin wrote a blog titled “Five Females Fighting” regarding the issues of everyone using the bathroom in her bedroom.  Cindy Daniel, Steve Daniel, Maryssa Mahaney, Makenna Mahaney and Stephaney Mahaney ALL SHARE Cindy’s bathroom because my niece Leigh Ann is a germophobic and wants no one (including her husband Alex Blais) sharing the bathroom she uses!  My son Robert Hafele and his cousin Stephaney Mahaney are both workaholics who have always had to “pay their own way” while Leigh Ann stayed home with Cindy and spent her earnings on new cars every four years and the latest electronics. 

Being a mother is going to force my niece to focus on someone else other than herself and this (I’m certain) will be a true “wake up call” for shopping adventures and dining out for my niece who hates to eat at home and often eats put three times a day.  Cindy and I have had numerous discussions about the issues of bringing Leigh Ann “down to earth.”  We just haven’t found an effective solution to a thirty year problem.

The boots that Tammy Leggett bought for herself and matching pairs for Cindy and I started the “ruckus” last night and in order to resolve the conflict-Cindy bought Leigh Ann and Stephaney a pair online after leaving Tammy’s house.  Now, I have to buy a pair for my daughter in law, Stephanie Hafele to effectively “keep the peace” around here.

Spoiled children often become spoiled adults and we are trying not to spoil any of the Little Pawners in order to not repeat our past mistakes.  Will it work?  One can hope.

As for the wrong people getting the wrong gifts?  The laughs just kept coming!  Hey, why get upset because you opened someone else’s present? 

Alex Blais will be leaving Washington and staying at Cindy’s House while awaiting orders to transfer to Long Beach in a few weeks.

Cindy has advised me that she plans to give Leigh Ann a “gift that keeps giving” and teach her to cook for Alex before they leave to end the issue of Leigh Ann going out to eat and Cindy cooking meals for Alex!

We all do the best we can to raise compassionate children- sometimes we “over do it” when we love them too much or protect them too much and it isn’t until they are adults that we realize we may have overdone it.

As I head off to meet my New Years Eve Bride, I’m reminded by my son (who attends every event with his wife Stephanie to handle the photography) that “he works hard to pay his bills and earns the privledge of having a new car by paying for it himself.”  It’s true, my son works for my exhusband at Mr G’s Carpets, my husband at McBee Homes and me at Texas Twins Events and has never been “comfortable” that Leigh Ann always had the latest gadgets and newest cars and cell phones.  My niece, Stephaney Mahaney works 50-60 hours a week as a waitress and often helps my sister pay the bills as well as being the translator for Texas Twins Events.

Leigh Ann has attended a handful of the hundreds of events and truthfully, contributed the least as an employee of Texas Twins Events but my son is right about one thing- he and his wife, my twin sister and the Little Pawners Maryssa and Makenna Mahaney were with me when I started this business and have been at my side doing whatever was needed.

There was a bit of conflict when I listed Leigh Ann on my websites as the wedding singer from the rest of my multigenerational family of workers because “it’s Leigh Ann” always gets her way.

Like my twin Cindy Daniel, I was trying not to ruffle any feathers but, when you work with your family- someone always has something to say around here….

Wendy M Wortham Family Wedding & Event Business