Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas Present

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Despite some financial hardships at the moment mom and I had a wonderful Christmas. We stuck to a budget and got each other some wonderful things. My extended family were equally as generous and we had a fun time being together. It was a stress free and relaxing holiday one that was sorely needed.

We started off having Christmas Eve at my Aunt's house. It was originally supposed to be at our house but we had an unexpected last minute plumbing issue (it has been resolved since thanks to some generous neighbors). It was still has great as it would have been if we had been here. It was a small gathering of my mom, grandma, aunt, and myself. We enjoyed a wonderful meal of chicken and dumplings prepared by my mom and had a great time laughing and enjoying each others company.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is to watch people's faces when they open their presents from me and I had quite a few I was very proud to be giving this year. The first ones happened on Christmas Eve. My family are huge Peanuts Cartoon fans and I had managed to find some really cute ornaments for everyone. I got them each their favorite characters, mom- woodstock, aunt and grandma- snoopy. They loved them and were excited to get them.

I was blessed to get a beautiful ornament from my Aunt. She as given me an ornament every Christmas Eve since my first Christmas so that when I eventually move out on my own I will have a collection already started. She always finds me unique ones that stand out, shes says because I am unique and stand out. My Grandma gave me "Easy A" on DVD. I loved this movie when I saw it with friends in the theater so I was happy to get it. My mom gave me my traditional new pajama's from my mom along with a pink sock monkey. I collect sock monkey things and I had seen a pink one in a Cracker Barrel over the summer. I decided against buying it because it was just too expensive. So my mom remembered and found the pink socks online and made me one.

Christmas morning was a quiet and relaxing. Mom and I exchanged gifts and I got a lot of new clothes, new Giada De Laurentiis kitchen gadgets, and the first season of the "Vampire Diaries" on DVD. Mom loved everything I got her and was so excited to get a dvd set of some of her favorite musicals. We had cinnamon rolls with fresh fruit for breakfast. It was nice to enjoy a quiet morning at home without feeling rushed as we have in the past.

We spent Christmas afternoon at my Grandma's exchaning gifts, eating, laughing, and eating some more. We like to eat. It was a wonderful day but it always saddens me to think of those that we have lost throughout the years. My Grandpa passed away back in 1999 and his Santa hat still sits on the back of his old chair every year. I can still hear him yelling out "Bah Humbug" when the back door would open and guests would come in. There is also my Great Aunt Nancy who passed away in 2004 who used to give out the most bizzare gifts to everyone. We all loved her for it and looked forward to see what everyone got year after year. My mom's cousin, Mary used to join us as well until she passed away back in 2008. She was a unique character who always had fun stories to tell. Then of course there is my Dad, I know that Christmas will never be the same without him but I felt as if he were there with us this year. He always liked to sit back and watch what was going on and it felt like he was doing just that.

We did not celebrate with my Dad's side until Monday. We made the decision a few years ago that it was just too hard to try and get together on Christmas Day when everyone had other commintments and we could not spend quality time together. So instead we get together later and have brunch. It was fun and I learned more about an Xbox 360 game called Assasins Creed from my 12 year old cousin, Herman than I ever wanted to learn.

Over all it was a wonderful Christmas and I can't wait for next year.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Remembering Christmas Past

Last night we finally got all of our decorations up and the house finally feels ready for Christmas. As we were setting up the tree I was reminded of the past and mom and I began to reminisce about our favorites, what made each year special, and the traditions.

One of my favorite traditions when I was growing up was when my best friend Mallory and I would call each other after opening presents to see what loot the other one scored. Our parents set up rules that we had to wait until 10am to call and we could not get jealous of what the other one got. My favorite year was the year my parents got me the American Girl Doll, Samantha. See the year before I had gotten Molly and Mallory and I would have to share when playing with her. So when the phone rang that morning I told her I got a Samantha doll, and she hung up on me. The next thing I knew she was running across the street in her pajamas and flying through our front door. She hugged my dad and thanked him for getting her a doll to play with. It was just like Mallory to do that and we still laugh about it to this day.

One of my favorite Christmas' was the back in 2002. It was my cousin Phoebe's first Christmas and we thought that my Aunt and Uncle would not be coming from Pennsylvania until after the first of the year. Well my Uncle called the night before Christmas Eve and told my dad they were leaving in a few hours to spend the holiday with us. We were sworn to secrecy and it was a great gift to see be able to spend our first Christmas with our new family member. She was only 2 months old but we bcame buddies fast and have been ever since.

There have been bad Christmas' as well. One was just last year, the first one without my dad. He passed the June before and it was very hard for mom and I. We did not put up a tree in the living room, nor decorate much at all. It was too hard to know he would never experience the holiday with him again. We of course exchanged presents and celebrated with the family but neither of us felt that Christmas Spirit.

This year I hope things are better. Of course I will always miss my Dad on Christmas. He had a unique way of making things special whether it was through a surprise gift or him pretending to be all grinch like. But I think now that a little time has passed we can get back into the Christmas spirit and be thankful for what we do still have.

God Bless and Merry Christmas to all.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Busy Weekend

The weekend before Christmas is always a busy one for us. No matter how many times mom and I swear we will do things earlier, it never gets done. But that is what makes us, us. It used to drive my father nuts beause we would sae everything for the last minute, like cleaning the house for company or getting a paper done for school. It was fun to watch the veins in his forehead expand and it is just one of the many things I miss about having him around for the holidays.

So our weekend started off on Friday with a trip a few towns over with my grandmother to help her shop for my younger cousins. She has seven grandchildren to buy for, me being the oldest at 25 then we have my cosuin J at 25, M at 22, P at 8, H at 5, W at 3, and V 18 months. Quite an age gap there. We are all close even though the younger ones live one state over and we do not get to see them very often. My grandma asked for my help since she has no clue what young kids like anymore. She is 90, bless her heart, and still plays golf and bridge every week. So off to Walmart we went and we got a lot of great stuff for them.

It is always tradtion with my Grandma that if we go out shopping we of course have to stop for lunch. I of course never object, as eating out is a favorite pastime of mine. We stopped at our favorite diner before heading to Target to get a few more Christmas presents.

Saturday was spent cleaning and getting ready to put up our tree and other decorations. It is such a task every year to clean because we seem to accumulate a ton of stuff in our living room all year long. Don't know where to put something, put it in the living room. So it takes a while to get everything reorganized and back to its rightful place. The tree will go up tomorrow (monday) and it will officially feel like Christmas.

Sunday was supposed to be candy and chocolate making day for my grandma, mom, and I but I woke up with a bad cold so I sat this year out. Mom and Grandma made some wonderful chocolates like monkey munch, peppermint bark, and nut clusters. I stayed home and watched a "Law and Order: SVU" marathon on the USA network in between napping off my benedryl.

I am looking forward to the coming week and spending time with the people I love the most in the world.

Monday, December 13, 2010

My first blog post

So I have been going back and forth on starting a blog. I love to write and when I took a creative writing class we had to do one as part of our assignment. I loved soing it and am glad to have started one now.

I would also like to introduce myself. I am Elizabeth. I am a 25 year old college student ntrying desperately to finish my degree. As of right now I am unemployed and looking for a job. I live at home with my mom who is my rock. Without her I have no idea how I would have survived the past few years. My dad passed away in June of 2009 and it has been hard to go on without him.

I have two crazy cats named Cleopatra and Calypso, we call them Cleo and Caly. They keep me laughing and are big cuddle bugs especially in these cold Ohio winters.

I enjoy reading, writing, listening to music, signing (even though I am not all that good), nature, and being with my family and friends.

I hope to be able to post and share all of the good and bad with you.

Until next time.