8 days to Christmas!!!!
Whoo, can you believe it's only EIGHT days til Christmas?! I know I sure can't! This year's really flown by. It seriously seems like only yesterday it was March and my friends and I were talking about going to see Meet the Robinsons in theaters together...wow.
And to top things off, my town is currently under a winter storm warning until 7 PM tomorrow night, and Brother Tom has already canceled church service in the morning, which also means my youth class and Devo is canceled. Dang. I somehow slept through my alarm last week (I'll never know how, since my alarm's loud enough and annoying enough to wake the dead!) and missed church, and I was really looking forward to coming this week to Devo. Oh well. Anywho, we're supposed to get around 3-5 inches of snow tonight, then 5-8 tomorrow! That's a total of around 10+ inches! Whoo!
Anywho, so every year at Christmastime, I always chose one Christmas song to fit that year. Last year's was Where are You Christmas? by Faith Hill, because Gran had just died and I felt...lost. This year's is Grown Up Christmas List, because, well...I feel a lot older than I am. I've had to grow up a lot this past year, and I feel more like a 21 year old than a 15 year old sometimes.
So yes, if you're wondering, that's why I named my journal Do you remember me? I sat upon your knee. I wrote to you with childhood fanfasies. and that's also why my banner has those lines on it. It's a beautiful song with a beautiful message. Basically, it's an adult writing a letter to Santa, asking for what they want for Christmas, which include no more broken lives, wars, and for everyone to have a friend.
And since we're singing this song in choir, I was telling my mom about it, and since last year was the last year I truely believed in Santa, I asked my mom who ate all the cookies all those years, and she told me that Santa stops coming when you're thirteen. After thirteen, it's the parents' jobs to be Santa.
A hundred memories came rushing back from when I was little, like when I was eight and in third grade I got a "Santa Report Card" in the mail and a letter saying Santa had seen me being good all year and that if I filled out my report card accurately by placing star stickers over little dots inside whenever I washed my hands or set the table or made my bed, I would get a special surpise. That was also back when we went to Arkansas every year to be with Gran and the rest of my large family, and the night we left, I laid my report card on the kitchen table and I was the last one out the door (since my parents were already out in the snow starting the car) and the day we got back two weeks later, I was the first in the house, and a big red A was on the front.
And then the Christmas of 2003 came rushing back.
2003 was the last year we ever went back to Arkansas for Christmas. I'll never forget that year. Not only was it the year I lost my outdoor cat, Tiger, and two very close family friends, but it was also the year I got my first American Girl doll, Kirsten. I remember my Aunt Jo (the aunt I haven't exactly been on speaking terms with lately, Gran's sister) had had her famous Christmas party where everyone on my dad's side comes over and we play dominos and eat lots of food, watch Christmas specials on TV, open family gifts, and have a fun time. My little cousin Laci (who was...six. I was eleven.) and I were sitting at Aunt Jo's bar, eating a few pickles and deviled eggs while the adults played Chicken Foot (dominos) when we suddenly heard bells ringing softly. The news station on the TV had said Santa was in LA about an hour before, and we were getting really excited that he was on his way. We stopped and listened for a minute, and then asked everyone else if they could hear them, and they said no. We went outside and listened, thinking it might be carolers or something (though we've never heard of carolers caroling in Camden) and there was no one. We even had everyone go quite and pause the TV inside. We could still hear them, and no one else could.
So really, no matter how old I get, I guess I'll always believe in Santa. He gives us hope, and shows that there truely is good in the world, and wherever he is, I hope the Lord blesses him.
Well, I'm off to type TYWAW. I'm updating tonight if it kills me!
Adios, mi amigos!
~Robi