(no subject)
I had a really good Christmas and I was at work for 5 1/2 hours of it and on a bus for another 3 hours... And yet it's the best Christmas I've had in years.
Last year I spent the whole day alone in my room. It was depressing. I had a roommate who hated me, there were no decorations or celebrations, it was just a day. It sucked. For the five preceding years I was with my partner of five years and we celebrated at his parents house in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in America. The tree had tons of presents under it. I got a "haul" every year. I'd take pictures and post them around, but I felt very detached from it all. The year before that I spent with a different boyfriends family in, again, one of the wealthiest regions in the country and, once again, with tons of presents. I felt detached. The year before that I spent with my aunt and uncle and it was probably the last Christmas that I felt loved and cared for before this one. Basically for six years I felt like I was butting in on other families traditions and sucking gifts up without giving anything in return and then last year I was alone and felt like nobody really cared (outside of you, my lovely fandom friends, who sent me cards and hand knitted scarves and cookies! You always make me feel loved). But this year... this year has been the best...
I worked from 10-3:30 today. On the bus ride to work I passed out candy canes with ribbons tied on them to everyone I met starting with the bus driver. I started my day off with 36 candy canes and by the time I got home I only had one left which I gave to my roommates friend when she stopped over before they headed out to Les Mis. One guy I gave a candy cane to told me he was hunting for a turkey. I promptly called it his "Turkey Quest," which got a laugh out of him. He went on to explain that he was getting the turkey for two little girls whose mom was kind of a dead beat and forgot to get them anything for dinner. He didn't want them to not have a Christmas dinner so he got up at sunrise and had been traveling all over town hunting for a turkey for them. When I got off the bus he had just gotten a Safeway on the line that apparently had one turkey left. Let me tell ya, this dude started my Christmas off right. Good luck to you, turkey man. I hope those little girls got a good dinner.
When I was at work I was pretty much activating phones all day. This is one of the easiest things to do. It usually takes 5-10 minutes at most and at the end of the call I either a) have a happy customer with a new phone or b) have transferred them to technical support for further assistance so it's hard to go wrong. I did have two people call up to talk about their bills, which was just odd for Christmas day, and one person who called up to yell about how their phone didn't work and then when I said I could do some trouble shooting he proceeded to tell me that he didn't even have the phone with him that wasn't working so wtf. But most of the calls were very pleasant and I felt like I made some people's mornings.
When I got home one of my roommates and I exchanged gifts and, OMG I had a stalking! I got Doctor Who socks and post it notes!
He also got me a sock kitty hat. Yes, yes, it's not like Misha's but I love it because a) he knows that whenever I see the sock hats at street fairs I comment on them and I don't expect him to know exactly what Misha's looks like and b) I am a cat lady and c) he constantly makes fun of my California-ness and how cold I get while waiting for the bus so it's a practical gift as well. So yay sock kitty hat! Here is my and my awesome roommate Khai! (yes, Khai is my ex, but still my roommate, and yes, his pronoun has changed since I last spoke of him)
After that my roommate and I went to McDonalds lol yes our Christmas dinner was McDonalds but WHATEVER Pizza Hut was closed what else were we supposed to do??
Then I talked to my aunt, uncle, and cousin. Yes pregnant hipster cousin. Weeeell her son is almost 7 months old now and we talked about him a lot. I get to meet him for the first time in two weeks and I told her how much I talk about him to my coworkers and she was really touched by it and I cried. Also, as we were talking my nephew apparently face planted into a book and started crying but my cousin was laughing so I assume he was ok. But el oh el good timing kid.
Then I watched the Doctor Who special with Harmony and spazzed about it for a bit. Because SERIOUSLY CLARA OSWIN OSWALD HOW HOW HOW??????
Anyway, about 30 minutes ago I noticed my other roommate was here and we exchanged gifts at 11pm, just under the wire for Christmas. And then I got back to my room and started crying because seriously today has been amazing. I didn't get a lot of gifts and my family is very far away, but people thought about me and I made connections with dozens of random strangers and brightened their days a little.
Guys, this is the best Christmas I've had in probably 7 years.
Bonus picture of me in my sock kitty hat sitting at my computer getting ready to watch Doctor Who after a super long day omg.
