"My wife is under some strange illusion that this whole thing isn't blatantly obvious."
If she really thinks that, the holidays may serve as a nice wake up call for her. I'm counting on the awkwardness and questions my W gets to rock her boat quite a bit.
But don't think that she is "not" thinking about the holidays and her birthday. I still have my W at home (she doesn't have anywhere else to go or I think she'd have moved out already) and she seems to be squirming thinking about how the holidays will play out. I think of the holidays as a time to flex my DB muscles and show how I can GAL, detach, and not pursue.
I know you have the kids to think about too, so I would suggest you find a solid plan for what they will do (with you hopefully) and do something different and fun this year. Maybe even spend some money too! Go out of town with the kids, go to a NFL game, parade, musical, SOMETHING to show you are a new Jefe. If you don't have money sell something to pay for it.
Now is really not the time to slow down Jefe, you know that. You don't have 5 threads on this forum because you are hopeless. You have a marriage and W worth fighting for, and you are just the man for the challenge.
UpperCut Me: 28 W: 25 Married: 4 yrs Together: 7 yrs Dday: 9/14 (W ends affair & comes home) S: 12/14 (W restarted affair 1/15; moved near OM 2/15) No kids