You know, we actually had a collectively good-time today, in-laws and all. This is the answer America - we need to spend pressure cooker time in a room with religious righties and be polite with one another and realize it is possible. I am reaching across the aisle for you, America. It does not hurt that they think our kid is pretty awesome and I must say, basking in the reflected glory of your kid being cooed and fussed over and loved is a pretty sweet feeling. Also, it gives the adults something to focus on. Look, the baby is talking! Now she is standing! Go baby, while I turn down NPR because they're talking about NC going blue. The one blunder and proof my in-laws can be gracious, was discovering the Ob@ma sticker was still glaringly pasted on to the stroller when I met them for lunch and yet, they walked around with it,pushed it, never mentioning it, though it was like a giant neon donkey in the room. "Why didn't you take it off" I hissed at AH. "I thought you had it covered", he replied. Then I showed him how shockingly easy it was to remove a sticker from Gore-Tex to avoid making a stressful situation more stressful. Sheesh.
Another test was faced with dinner - NC BBQ and hush puppies and pecan pie - pronounced delicious - and then I was dropped off at my library to choose a few movies we could watch after dinner. Hello, would you like to chose a movie the whole dang family could love and not be offended by? Many movies mocked me - Blow, Blue Velvet, Hell House - but in the end I went for The 39 Steps and The Red Balloon. (For back-up, I got a Gary Cooper western, My Favorite Wife with Cary Grant, Fortune Cookie(a Billy Wilder film) and Spellbound - nary a shred of sex, violence, religion or politics in any and all). To my surprise they really enjoyed 39 Steps, as murky and British as it is, and we were all seriously enchanted with The Red Balloon, which I remember watching in school as a kid. It's been beautifully beautifully restored and the gray of post-war Paris against the shiny red balloon - whether you have a house full of in-laws or not, this future film librarian says "Watch it!"