Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Thankful, but a little bummed
Jimmy and I have been together for over ten years, married 8 1/2, and the whole time he has had a job with swing shift hours. I wouldn't know what to do if he had a regular 9-5 job. Not only does he work swing shift, but for a majority of these years his schedule hasn't remained constant. So with that, we are really never able to plan ahead. We might think he's working one shift, but the week before he finds out he's being changed to another shift. But life goes on, whether he's with us or working. Poor Jimmy, has missed many plays, programs, a couple of recitals, family gatherings and so forth. But he's only ever missed one Christmas. That was Hannah's first Christmas. I'm sure I was a little sad then, but she was only seven months old, so no big deal. Well, with the recent economic meltdown, jobs being eliminated, people being layed off, Jimmy said last week that there was a chance that he might have the whole week of Christmas off to eleviate some overtime. He wasn't going to be able to find out until last night when he went to work. He was scheduled to work 2nd shift (3-11) which would be a good shift if he had to work. I was in the shower when he came home this morning, so I sent the girls to go ask what his shift will be. They came back with these words, "The worst possible shift." Which means days. He won't be home Christmas morning. For the first time since Rebecca and Leah have been born, and the second time for Hannah, he has to work that morning. I'm sad. YET, I am very very thankful at the same time that he has a job. I know I shouldn't complain, because we are so incredibly blessed and Christmas is NOT about Christmas morning. But still, I'm sad. I'm not sure how we will do things this year. I would not want him to miss anything, so I don't know whether to wait until he gets home to open gifts or what. We'll figure it out. I just thought I would share this. Is is wrong to be upset? Like I said, I am very grateful that he has a job. All I keep hearing from the news and people's everday conversations is how this company is laying off this many people and so forth. So, we are blessed that that hasn't happened to us, but I'm still bummed.
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9 comments:
I completely understand your disappointment. Kevin works 12 hour days and nights. He always been off on Christmas since we've know each other. He is working nights Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (8 PM to 8 AM)...he will hopefully make breakfast at my Mom's but I'll know he'll need his rest so we haven't figured our day out either. I am not as upset about this year as I may be next year when we have our own little one. So I completely understand...you have a right to be upset/disappointed.
Poor Donielle, I am bummed for you too...I know you will figure out a way to make it work....wish I had some suggestions to make it easier for you... :-(
I understand Donielle. Things will work out.
girl..ugh..you don't have to tell me about the NUCOR shifts these days..that's where my hubby works. because of the 4 on 4 off run schedule right now he isn't working c-mas day. nor does he get paid the days that he has off next week..so he has been working everyday day but one last week and yesterday he had off..today he was filling in and was supposed to get off at 5 but called and said he switched again to get 12 bonus hours and will be home at 7..then tomorrow fill in til 7 and starts nights friday night til monday morning and is supposed to fill in on the 23 day shift and has off til the weekend, NO PAY except for c-mas and had to take vacation the weekend so he wouldn't loose those hours. his schedule is so off that i have to call him just about every day to see what he is working...ugh..IT'S ANNOYING..and the 4 on 4 off swing shift regular schedule sucks. when he works nights and i have to work i may or may not even see him for 4days or maybe 30 minutes the whole day. (he used to be ladel wall C crew now he is mold and segment A crew). i wish he could work ALL days. and with the economy going down thankfully NUCOR will be keeping the jobs (just slack on run/bonus days and i am loving that they made the bonus hours so that everyone gets the same right now..they are trying to make it fair because if ya'll are like us, we live off the bonus hours). i will be glad when they start running full blast again.
I totally understand your frustration. I would be highly upset if Charlie had to work holidays. When he worked at IP, he would work the holidays so the people with kids could be off. I wish there was someone that would switch with Jimmy for the same reason. Charlie always did that so when he had kids, someone might would do the same for him.
I know it might be a lot, but maybe ya'll could wake the girls around 5am so Jimmy can see what Santa brought them with them awake. It would be hardly no sleep for him, but maybe that is an option.
Hang in there Donielle! Maybe it's not as bad as it sounds and something will change before Christmas gets here. There's always hope!
Oh, girl, I am sorry!! that's aweful. And at the girls' ages, they know he's not there.. I'm sad, but also thankful he's got a great job that allows Santa to come to your house!!
Donielle I had a friend who used to have the dad take the kids for a ride to look at the Christmas lights and when they got back all the presents were under the tree from Santa. They only got to open the gifts from Santa not everything. They still had some to open on Christmas day. It was kinda cool and he always got see the joy of Christmas morning even if it was on Christmas Eve. They would tell the kids Santa gets there when ever he can and sometimes its the night before.
That's a good idea Judi. In fact, my parents suggested the same thing. We usually go to his family's on Christmas eve, so they offered to get everything out and under the tree for us. BUT, this year we are getting together a day before. So we decided to get the girls up at 4am so we can do Christmas together and that should allow us plenty of time before he has to leave for work. I'm sure the girls won't mind getting up extra early for that...lol!
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