Thanks For... Ending?

So, yesterday was Thanksgiving. I doubt anyone is reading this, but just in case they are and they're in a different country (since I'm not sure if people from other countries know anything about U.S Thanksgiving), it's a holiday we celebrate the 4th Thursday of every November and pretty much involves stuffing ourselves with stuff like turkey (maybe ham or roast beef or tofurkey or whatever), mashed potates, stuffing, vegetables, bread and pumpkin pie. Or some other variation.

For me personally, it involves trying to appease my mother and father, who are no longer married. I would like to preface this by saying I know there are people out there who have bigger problems than mine. I've tried to remind myself of this so that I wouldn't feel so crappy... but it didn't work. So while I know things could be worse, they could also be better.

My sister and I are supposed to alternate parents; one year at my mom's and the next at my dad's. My parents split in 2005, so this is only the 4th year of this. This year was my dad's turn and previously, when we've spent the day with him, my mom has been invited to her friend's house, but this year her friend was out of town. So before we went to my dad's, we went to her house. We played a game and ate some snacks and I felt bad... but I am very much in the middle. So that's the first sucky thing.

The second thing is that no matter how much I try to tolerate my dad's wife and her family, I am miserable when I have to be around them. The topic of my dog came up and they got those looks on their faces because she happens to be a pitbull. None of them have ever so much as seen a picture of her, but because she is a pitbull, she must be deadly and vicious. My dog is like a daughter to me, so I take offense to that. Furthermore, I always feel like an interloper when I am around them. I feel like I am my father's niece, rather than his daughter. My father and his wife planned on going shopping this morning and invited her daughter to breakfast, right in front of me... but I wasn't invited. They talk about things in front of us, like they are supposed to be a secret, but we're not significant enough to be included. I've never liked how my father has freely admitted to loving his wife more than us, constantly puts her before everyone, but when he doesn't even treat us as well as her children - whom he doesn't even like, it feels really really crappy.

I just feel like I have to do with my father as I've done with several of my friends lately; they've shown me that when I really need them, they aren't around, even if I have been there for them in the past, so I have taken a step back from them and those relationships. I guess that's what I have to do with him. I know he's my father, and I will always love him, but I don't think it's fair to me to have to go through this.