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.

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