Obligatory post-Christmas post, go!
Warning: this post may be full of <3s and squeeing, because I love giving and getting presents at Christmastime X3
^Our tiny Charlie Brown Christmas tree with its little bundle of unopened presents :3
Ah, but really, this Christmas was unexpectedly awesome, considering the shape of the economy and so on, so forth. Most of my in-town buddies gathered last Sunday to exchange gifts and eat tasty treats and whatnot, and it was really fun. The elusive free spirit Jessica made her semi-annual appearance, which was a real treat because she's usually up at NC Arts for most of the year or flitting about having grandiose adventures the likes of which I've never witnessed and probably never will, lol. She's the type of person who says things like "my beau now looks like David Bowie; he loves to cook for me, and I asked if he'd wear a lacy apron next time and he said sure" really casually and you can't be anything but excited for her XD; Jason made these huge trays of pastries and other sweet things, which he'd apparently been working on for two weeks prior. No one even knew he could bake, let alone make the trays look like they came straight from a caterer! Man, I just brought a bucket of KFC, lol. I'm still picking at a take-home plate of goodies <3 He also brought bourbon eggnog (a HUGE surprise coming from someone who's generally anti-alcohol) and it was waaayy too strong for even the most seasoned drinker among us. So we diluted it with normal eggnog and it was much better <3 Then present-opening times came forth, and we were all filled with glee! Even though I adore getting presents (I've never claimed that I wasn't a materialist) I really love watching other people open what I got them even more. Everyone seemed to like their presents, so I'm happy for that :D I shall only list what I got from that exchange, because listing what I got other people (even though I want to really bad) seems sort of weird.
~angler fish plushie (I didn't know they made those! with hard teeth so it can bite, even!!) and bug-eyed zombie i-POP monster toy from Lacey
~Roronoa Zoro Portrait of Pirates figure from Jonathan (I've been aspiring to buy this for a while--he even got the second release, which doesn't have wonky eyes like the first! Gah, you charitable bastard! x'D )
~Tokidoki calendar book from Neko (I also wanted this really badly--she got it without even knowing that!)
~all those tasty goodies from Jason
~and later, delicious homemade cookies from Sara |3
It was so nice and full of surprises! Everyone was really amazing. I love my friends so much :'] It was also very entertaining, because Neko was our personal giftwrap-shredder; as the paper fell to the ground, she would snatch it up and rip at it enthusiastically, resulting in many itty-bitty bits of paper floating around Jonathan's living room (which yes, we cleaned up later.) I'm glad she found something to do, because she tends to shy away at gatherings. Earlier, she went upstairs as we ate because she doesn't like alcohol (even though none of us were even close to tipsy.) But I think she had fun, overall. Emma drove me home after we all played Jason's new Disney Villains Monopoly (it took a few hours, apparently) and neither of us realized it was three in the bloody morning XD; She was gonna come in and hang out for a few, but...well yeah, three in the morning, lol. Thus our Christmas party came to an end with everyone satisfied and full of pleasantries.
And then, the actual Christmas Day came! That's right, this was just the preliminaries, ladies and gentlemen. My mom always goes kind of overboard for Christmas, I think partially because I always had over-the-top Christmases as a kid and I think she wants to keep that up despite us being financially worse off than back then. I don't know if it's because she's worried I'd be disappointed or what. But anyway. I got up pretty late on Christmas, because I was just exhausted, and sort of wandered downstairs to fix something to eat before we got down to business. I was excited because I don't usually get to buy my mom a lot of stuff due to spending all my money on friends, but this year I carefully kept up with my spending and could afford more for her than ever X] After a hearty meal of an Hormel Compleats (get it--compleat? lolol?) and some reading, we started with small things and worked our way up to bigger things. I don't know what order I opened them in or even if this is everything my mom gave me, but I'll try to list it all from memory (for prosperity, of course.)
~small bunch of cell phone/PSP charms
~dark teal leggings with matching dark teal t-shirt
~cupcake bag from Claire's
~Flogging Molly "Within a Mile of Home" CD (I already had it, but managed to destroy it by stepping on it)
~Adam Lambert "For Your Entertainment" CD
~small boombox/radio/tape deck (I didn't know they still made tape decks!)
~a long chain necklace with a Celtic cross charm
~rainbow legwarmers and rainbow argyle over-the-knee socks 8D
~black and grey sparkly legwarmers
~teal/black/grey argyle-like knee socks
~black knit hat (beret-style)
~super-soft blue/orange/black/brown/green scarf
~black netty tights
~long black and long brown legging-style pants
~white thermals (because I get really cold at work)
~fuzzy Charlotte Russe vest
~pleather Charlotte Russe skirt (I've always wanted a pleather skirt that wasn't slutty-looking~!)
~Harmony/Rock On/Love L.O.L. Vintage T-shirt
My mom's friend Karen who works at the market also got me some stuff, which is unexpected. My mom set up the meeting between her and her current dog, so she feels really grateful to my mom, and by extension, me. Therefore, she hooked me up with:
~Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier t-shirt (from Europe, apparently)
~really nice and soft tattoo-print scarf
My dad and stepmom sent me a bunch of chocolates and some Betsey Johnson socks as well!!
And it turns out, my mom conspired with my dad and stepmom to bring be something kinda super-amazing and epic in every way. See, every year my dad and stepmom either ask for a list from me or send me about $250 worth of giftcards, or one big thing with chocolate and other little stuff. This year, my mom had a great idea. "My daughter keeps mentioning wanting video games she can't play because she doesn't have the system. Hmmm." So after pandering to my stepmom, who in turn pandered to my stepsister to go shopping on Black Friday, your friend Bip here is now the proud owner of a Playstation 3.
Not only that, but Rockband 2 with all the fixin's, THE BEATLES ROCKBAND, Little Big Planet, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time (the last two came with the PS3 as a bundle) and QUEEN SINGSTAR.
I ABOUT DIED, GUYS. WHO WANTS TO COME OVER AND ROCK OUT?! Now, the funny thing was, I actually opened all of these BEFORE the PS3. When I came downstairs, my mom asked me if I had a PS3 or a PS2. When I said PS2, she sighed and said "I think I might've messed up." So even though I'd been suspicious of her asking me if I'd prefer a PS3 or Wii, she totally threw me off when I opened the games and she was like "I'm sorry, I got the wrong ones! But we can take them back and exchange them for whatever you want, okay??" amidst much hugging and "Thank you so much for thinking of this!" from me XD It was a wonderful surprise! <3
With the words done (because really, there are no words for how awesome this Christmas was that I haven't said already) here is a picspam of most of my new things for you guys to view in case my descriptive entry here has left you unsatisfied and wanting more. Or, you know, if you just don't feel like reading all that, and prefer visuals.
You don't want to mess with that group of badass awesomeness there, no siree.
I leave you with this video, which brought to me the warm-fuzzies. Hopefully you haven't seen it. But you probably have. I don't care, it has to grace my journal <3<3
^Our tiny Charlie Brown Christmas tree with its little bundle of unopened presents :3
Ah, but really, this Christmas was unexpectedly awesome, considering the shape of the economy and so on, so forth. Most of my in-town buddies gathered last Sunday to exchange gifts and eat tasty treats and whatnot, and it was really fun. The elusive free spirit Jessica made her semi-annual appearance, which was a real treat because she's usually up at NC Arts for most of the year or flitting about having grandiose adventures the likes of which I've never witnessed and probably never will, lol. She's the type of person who says things like "my beau now looks like David Bowie; he loves to cook for me, and I asked if he'd wear a lacy apron next time and he said sure" really casually and you can't be anything but excited for her XD; Jason made these huge trays of pastries and other sweet things, which he'd apparently been working on for two weeks prior. No one even knew he could bake, let alone make the trays look like they came straight from a caterer! Man, I just brought a bucket of KFC, lol. I'm still picking at a take-home plate of goodies <3 He also brought bourbon eggnog (a HUGE surprise coming from someone who's generally anti-alcohol) and it was waaayy too strong for even the most seasoned drinker among us. So we diluted it with normal eggnog and it was much better <3 Then present-opening times came forth, and we were all filled with glee! Even though I adore getting presents (I've never claimed that I wasn't a materialist) I really love watching other people open what I got them even more. Everyone seemed to like their presents, so I'm happy for that :D I shall only list what I got from that exchange, because listing what I got other people (even though I want to really bad) seems sort of weird.
~angler fish plushie (I didn't know they made those! with hard teeth so it can bite, even!!) and bug-eyed zombie i-POP monster toy from Lacey
~Roronoa Zoro Portrait of Pirates figure from Jonathan (I've been aspiring to buy this for a while--he even got the second release, which doesn't have wonky eyes like the first! Gah, you charitable bastard! x'D )
~Tokidoki calendar book from Neko (I also wanted this really badly--she got it without even knowing that!)
~all those tasty goodies from Jason
~and later, delicious homemade cookies from Sara |3
It was so nice and full of surprises! Everyone was really amazing. I love my friends so much :'] It was also very entertaining, because Neko was our personal giftwrap-shredder; as the paper fell to the ground, she would snatch it up and rip at it enthusiastically, resulting in many itty-bitty bits of paper floating around Jonathan's living room (which yes, we cleaned up later.) I'm glad she found something to do, because she tends to shy away at gatherings. Earlier, she went upstairs as we ate because she doesn't like alcohol (even though none of us were even close to tipsy.) But I think she had fun, overall. Emma drove me home after we all played Jason's new Disney Villains Monopoly (it took a few hours, apparently) and neither of us realized it was three in the bloody morning XD; She was gonna come in and hang out for a few, but...well yeah, three in the morning, lol. Thus our Christmas party came to an end with everyone satisfied and full of pleasantries.
And then, the actual Christmas Day came! That's right, this was just the preliminaries, ladies and gentlemen. My mom always goes kind of overboard for Christmas, I think partially because I always had over-the-top Christmases as a kid and I think she wants to keep that up despite us being financially worse off than back then. I don't know if it's because she's worried I'd be disappointed or what. But anyway. I got up pretty late on Christmas, because I was just exhausted, and sort of wandered downstairs to fix something to eat before we got down to business. I was excited because I don't usually get to buy my mom a lot of stuff due to spending all my money on friends, but this year I carefully kept up with my spending and could afford more for her than ever X] After a hearty meal of an Hormel Compleats (get it--compleat? lolol?) and some reading, we started with small things and worked our way up to bigger things. I don't know what order I opened them in or even if this is everything my mom gave me, but I'll try to list it all from memory (for prosperity, of course.)
~small bunch of cell phone/PSP charms
~dark teal leggings with matching dark teal t-shirt
~cupcake bag from Claire's
~Flogging Molly "Within a Mile of Home" CD (I already had it, but managed to destroy it by stepping on it)
~Adam Lambert "For Your Entertainment" CD
~small boombox/radio/tape deck (I didn't know they still made tape decks!)
~a long chain necklace with a Celtic cross charm
~rainbow legwarmers and rainbow argyle over-the-knee socks 8D
~black and grey sparkly legwarmers
~teal/black/grey argyle-like knee socks
~black knit hat (beret-style)
~super-soft blue/orange/black/brown/green scarf
~black netty tights
~long black and long brown legging-style pants
~white thermals (because I get really cold at work)
~fuzzy Charlotte Russe vest
~pleather Charlotte Russe skirt (I've always wanted a pleather skirt that wasn't slutty-looking~!)
~Harmony/Rock On/Love L.O.L. Vintage T-shirt
My mom's friend Karen who works at the market also got me some stuff, which is unexpected. My mom set up the meeting between her and her current dog, so she feels really grateful to my mom, and by extension, me. Therefore, she hooked me up with:
~Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier t-shirt (from Europe, apparently)
~really nice and soft tattoo-print scarf
My dad and stepmom sent me a bunch of chocolates and some Betsey Johnson socks as well!!
And it turns out, my mom conspired with my dad and stepmom to bring be something kinda super-amazing and epic in every way. See, every year my dad and stepmom either ask for a list from me or send me about $250 worth of giftcards, or one big thing with chocolate and other little stuff. This year, my mom had a great idea. "My daughter keeps mentioning wanting video games she can't play because she doesn't have the system. Hmmm." So after pandering to my stepmom, who in turn pandered to my stepsister to go shopping on Black Friday, your friend Bip here is now the proud owner of a Playstation 3.
Not only that, but Rockband 2 with all the fixin's, THE BEATLES ROCKBAND, Little Big Planet, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time (the last two came with the PS3 as a bundle) and QUEEN SINGSTAR.
I ABOUT DIED, GUYS. WHO WANTS TO COME OVER AND ROCK OUT?! Now, the funny thing was, I actually opened all of these BEFORE the PS3. When I came downstairs, my mom asked me if I had a PS3 or a PS2. When I said PS2, she sighed and said "I think I might've messed up." So even though I'd been suspicious of her asking me if I'd prefer a PS3 or Wii, she totally threw me off when I opened the games and she was like "I'm sorry, I got the wrong ones! But we can take them back and exchange them for whatever you want, okay??" amidst much hugging and "Thank you so much for thinking of this!" from me XD It was a wonderful surprise! <3
With the words done (because really, there are no words for how awesome this Christmas was that I haven't said already) here is a picspam of most of my new things for you guys to view in case my descriptive entry here has left you unsatisfied and wanting more. Or, you know, if you just don't feel like reading all that, and prefer visuals.
You don't want to mess with that group of badass awesomeness there, no siree.
I leave you with this video, which brought to me the warm-fuzzies. Hopefully you haven't seen it. But you probably have. I don't care, it has to grace my journal <3<3
Click to view