Uh, Right

So I just called my parents about plane tickets to fly home for Thanksgiving, and after about three minutes of conversation it became evident that my father somehow thought I was now paying for airfare.

"Wait, hold up a sec," I said. "I'm buying these?"
"Uh, yeah," Dad said. "I paid for you to fly to North Carolina, since you didn't use the voucher,"
"...and I paid you back for the difference, and just applied the voucher to my trip back for winter break. So we're even."
"Yeah, well... we kind of expected that after we gave you the car, you'd be paying for anything outside of that."

Uh... hahaha. Haha. *cough* Ahem. 'Scuse me?

"Uh... and you didn't tell me about this why?"
"You thought we'd be paying for Thanksgiving tickets?"
"Dad, you've always paid for tickets. We've never had a discussion about this at all. You've never even hinted at another possibility."
"Oh. Well... hm. We'll get them, then, and we can talk about this when you're actually home."
"Okay, I guess... I mean, you guys know I don't mind discussing who's paying for what, but I don't like having things sprung on me like this." I paused, thinking. "If I'd known that was your intention, I'd have talked to Andrew about whether he was driving back."
"We don't want you driving back. Ever."
"Well, okay then."

Good grief. I hate it when they change their expectations without warning, but this one's really rather funny. Because I don't particularly enjoy flying home. Travelling is annoying, and as noted this summer, it's often not that enjoyable once I get there. So if they want me to pay for airfare, I guess that's fine. But they sure as heck shouldn't expect me to be home as much.