You probably know that Meredith Salenger married comedian and actor Patton Oswalt in October, as the couple has a penchant to overshare. Personally, I don’t have a problem with it. It’s not something I would do but I’m fine avoiding those posts if they get too much. I completely understand why others have reached saturation with these two but I still enjoy them. In keeping with their tradition of letting us into their lives, Meredith posted these photos to her Instagram on Wednesday:
There are some really cute pictures if you click through them. According to Meredith’s caption, this moment is doubly special because not only is it her first Christmas with her new husband and step-daughter Alice, Meredith, who is Jewish, is getting to trim her first Christmas tree. I know what this is like from the Christian side, one of my closest friends and her family trimmed their first tree with me (she also attended her first Nativity play and dyed Easter eggs for the first time with my family). We also celebrate the first night of Chanukah together. Even now that they have moved across the country, we Face-Time for prayers (we go by their sundown). It’s fun, certainly, but it’s also a way to let someone know how much you want to be in their life. Traditions are one of the best parts of the holidays. Traditions and fudge… mmmmm, fudge. All of that is to say that I got excited when I saw Meredith’s pictures because that memory will be what she thinks of each year when they bring out the box of ornaments. Also, I’ll be overseas for Christmas so we opted not to have a real Christmas tree. We have a modern minimalist tree which is cool for this one time but just last night I was looking at it wishing we had a big ol’ Douglas Fir like we usually do.
But how the heck did they wait until now to decorate their tree? Like, I get that people do wait but how? Where do you find that willpower? Thanksgiving at my house is called Day We Set Up for Christmas Eve. Even my stupid white spiral tree was up and decorated by noon, Nov 24. Secondly, those crowns are from Christmas crackers, right? Someone enlighten me because I thought you pulled the cracker on Christmas Day (or the day you celebrate Christmas). They probably just made it an All Christmas Everything Night since they did their cards as well.
This is completely not Christmas related but I found it funny, so that makes it Christmasy to me. The conservative blog The Daily Wire took exception with Patton defending Sen. Gillbrand from #45 ridiculous attack on her. The ended their post by implying Patton had a failed comedy career. However, they chose a header photo of him holding his Emmy for – wait for it – his comedy special. Patton responded with this:
Guys, if you're gonna write an article about me being a "failed comedian" maybe don't use a pic of me holding up the Emmy I won for doing comedy? https://t.co/chfCEmGVSK
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 12, 2017
Photo credit: WENN Photos, Twitter and Instagram
I’m glad they are happy. I find Meredith to be a bit cringe-worthy with how much she overshares (the “this little girl is finally mine!” caption the day of their wedding in reference to Alice was a bit overkill for me) and for Patton’s daughter’s sake, I really hope these two end up working out for the long term.
They seem really happy, good for them! There was a study that said when men are widowed, they remarry more quickly if their previous relationship had been happy (this wasn’t necessarily the case with women), either way, I’m glad he’s been able to move on.
In my country we decorate the tree on Christmas Eve.
People would look at you funny if you decorated it now. I can’t even imagine decorating it in November. We don’t even put the lights up on houses until a week before Christmas.
When do you take the tree down?
Day or weekend after New Years, depending on when I have to be back at work.
There is that. I am not the only one decorating that early. I just found out Octavia Spencer actually decorated her house before Thanksgiving this year.
I take my tree down the weekend before the sanitation department collects them, usually the second Sunday in January. And yes, I find needles in my living room for the rest of the year.
We’ve always taken the tree down on Epiphany. A lot of people have fake trees here, so they aren’t dead and dropping needles. I never get the tree up in November myself. I have it partially up now. My family often did it Christmas Eve, but you still have to get your (real) tree earlier or the lots will sell out.
I live with my sister and last year we put up the tree in early Nov (although we had just been moved in for about a month, so I think it was mainly because we were excited to host our own Christmas together and what not. This year, it didnt get done until last week. it might be partially due to be being busy (we both have picked up extra hours), but I think its more likely that “first christmas” excitement isnt there.
We usually take down the tree after the first week in Jan.
That outfit she has on in the last pic is epic. We don’t decorate anymore, but I have an advent truck for each of the kids and I will continue that until they leave home.
She does overshare. It makes me uncomfortable because Patton’s late wife Michelle never posted photos of Alice so i imagine she would be horrified at the way she is being flaunted about
And yes, referring to Alice as “hers” is just weird and totally inappropriate. Alice only met her a few months ago ffs! Some people just don’t think. I really doubt Michelle’s family appreciates the way things have gone down.
I remember buying and decorating my first xmas tree with my then boyfriend (now husband) 10 yrs ago. I was raised Jewish and never imagined I would have so much fun with xmas traditions. Still think the whole Santa thing is creepy, but the tree and decorations are awesome.
Their whole relationship just feels so off to me. I mean, who really knows, right? But I cannot imagine the grief I would feel after a loss like that, and the idea of jumping right in to another relationship and marriage–especially with a young child–is really distasteful to me.
I got divorced after 12 unhappy years, and had grieved the loss of the relationship for at least 2 or 3 years before the actual divorce (he was an alcoholic and grew increasingly unstable and violent and I had to leave with our young son. It was very hard). And even still–when I was no longer in love with my then-husband–it took me 2 solid years of focusing on therapy, work, and my child before I could even think about dating. And when I did finally get into a good relationship, it was ~4-5 months before I introduced him to my son, and then only in friendly “let’s meet at the park” kind of situations.
We were at the point of getting engaged before we moved in together. We’re now pretty happy, my ex has finally gotten some control over the alcoholism and has a relationship with my son, and my current partner is the most amazing stepdad ever. Life is good. But the idea that I would have jumped in to the deep end with a brand new person and my child in the mix feels horrifying.
My experience is obviously not the same as Oswalt’s but my heart goes out to that little girl, for whom holiday rituals are not just instagrammable hashtag-fests, but reminders that the most important person in her little world is gone. I don’t know. It just doesn’t sit right with me. And this woman’s tasteless and over the top comments about the little girl sound INCREDIBLY possessive and raise alarms for me.
Firstly, I’m sorry your first marriage was so difficult. Living in that sort of volatile hell day in and day out is…there are no words.
I lived through a very similar situation, but the second I was free I enjoyed myself. Immensely. Long weekends away, long weekends home alone, nights out with friends, dating like crazy, just a bomb-ass time doing only what I wanted to do.
Then I met my soul mate.
With a teenage daughter.
Despite long since telling myself I didn’t want kids and I didn’t want to get married again.
Some people move on in ways that are different than us.
It doesn’t make them wrong, or strange, its just different.
Also- my stepdaughters mom is all over social media and plasters her all over it despite how self-conscious she is. That’s her prerogative.
I post something funny or sarcastic every 6 months and post few pictures. Some people are just into different things.
They’re happy. Good for them.