Time for the holiday season.

And for my family, that means a little bit of turkey, a little bit of drama and a little bit of trauma, mixed in with some laughs and tears.

I often wonder if other families have as many eventful moments as we do or if we are just the chosen ones. Nevertheless, it wouldn't be a good holiday without the unexpected.

Here's a brief rundown of our Thanksgiving holiday.

A week before Thanksgiving, our flat screen TV goes out. There is sound, but no picture. It is less than a year old. (Never mind that a TV I bought 11 years ago is still going and never had to be fixed. We HAD to get the flat screen, right?) We are having guests — big football fans — for Thanksgiving dinner, and the repair place says they don't have the part to fix it until after the holiday.

The TV is dark. No Sesame Street for my toddler. No Curious George. Definitely no football.

It's going to be a long week.

The night before turkey day, my husband calls me from the side of the highway. He ran out of gas. He doesn't believe the gas gauge when it is most definitely on "E." It's happened before. The gas can I bring him spills in my car and smells horrible.

I spend $25 to get my car cleaned and the mats shampooed to get rid of the gas smell.

Then we send my father out to pick up Mexican food.

Enchilada sauce spills in my car. On the mats. The mats that I just had cleaned.

The next day, the cooking and preparations seem to be going well. The Thanksgiving meal is just about ready to be served when someone opens the bottom oven door, and my baby heads right to it. Quicker than you can say turkey, she smacks her palm down on the inside of the door.

Massive screaming.

It's horrible. Her little palm is red and starting to blister. There are six other adults in the house, and everyone is rushing around trying to figure out what to do. Where's the book on toddler care? Do we put ice on it? Water? A bag of peas? It's hard to remember exactly what to do during the moment.

This is so sad.

Luckily, I remember that I have an antibiotic cream left over from when my toddler accidentally burned herself on a curling iron. We put the cream on the baby's hand and wrap it up like a mitt and give her a bottle of milk to calm her down.

This isn't going well.

The baby eats Thanksgiving dinner one-handed.

I ask my toddler if she needs to use the potty. She's been potty-trained since August and occasionally has accidents. I should have known today might be a good candidate for an accident.

"No Mommy," she says. "I don't have to potty."

Five minutes pass.

She pees her pants outside.

A few hours later she pees on my mother on the couch. My mother's pants are soaked and so is the couch cushion.

How much more could happen this holiday?

Two days later, my 85-year-old grandmother trips and falls on a cobblestone street at a shopping district. She falls on her face. Her nose is bloody, her lip is fat and she is so bruised it looks like either elder abuse or a bar fight.

She talks funny and it's hard for her to eat.

A few days later, my baby's hand is better and she doesn't even notice anything was wrong.

My husband filled his gas tank.

My floor mats still smell fresh.

My Grandmother's bruises don't look much better.

My toddler hasn't had another potty accident.

The TV is still broken.

And we're ready for Christmas now.

___

asap contributor Angie Wagner is an AP national writer, based in Las Vegas.

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