Thankful for grand/parents

Among the things Edith is grateful for this Thanksgiving are grandparents. Invited to come spend the holiday as Mom and Dad's guests for the first time instead of vice versa, and offered the tantalizing promise of meeting a new grandchild, they show their boundless love and generosity even when plans go differently--in these ways and more:

• When Mom and Dad drive their car into the ground and don't know how they're going to get you to daycare or the grocery store anymore, grandparents shop for and find a car that meets your family's needs. It will even fit your dog. They buy it, drive it 500 miles to your house (even though that means they have to caravan and can't drive the long trip together), give it to your parents, and tell them to pay for as much as they can.
• Even though you have a bad cold, one of Mor-mor's least favorite things in the world, Mor-mor plays with you devotedly--without trying to do errands and chores at the same time! So does Grandpa.
• They help you with number games, and they applaud you when you play rhyming games without any help.
• They seem to understand that Candyland is fun enough to play five times in a row, something Mom and Dad don't appreciate.
• They practice your Christmas pageant song with you at the piano.
  
• When Mom takes to bed with the cold you gave her, grandparents pitch right in and help Dad put together the whole Thanksgiving dinner, then wash dishes and act like it was no big deal that Mom bowed out of her hosting duties for several days.

• Grandparents even act like they're having a good time when Dad's idea of thanks for help with Thanksgiving dinner is to put them to work the next day helping install storm windows and insulation.

• They take you to get a haircut when Mom mentions it (then goes back to bed), and they give you baths.
  
• They don't flinch when you want to introduce them to the movie Cars three or four times over, and later they join you in a search through the bins at the Record Exchange in hopes of telling Santa where he can find the movie.

• They make sure you are ready for Christmas with your very own advent calendar and a Cinderella Christmas tree ornament! They also let you pick out a wreath for the front door, then they go get the suction cup hook at the hardware store that will keep it up. Who knows when Mom and Dad would have gotten around to decorating for Christmas.
  
• They notice that Mom and Dad light the main room in the house with a Leaning Tower of Halogen they've hung onto from college days that gives about enough light to make it feel like a bear's winter cave, and they fix that situation, too.
• They take you on outings to the living history farm and go on hayrides with you.

• They take charge of most of the meals while they're in town, since Mom is still playing that infectious disease card.
• They smile when you get silly and don't tell you to stop fooling around at the dinner table.

• When they leave to start an 11-hour trip home in the freezing rain, they act like it was no big deal that your sister never showed up, and they hug and kiss you and say goodbye as if you were the only grandkid in the world that ever mattered.

P.S. Uncles are pretty amazing, too...