Back in Denton
I got back yesterday from spending the holidays with my family. Going home wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Of course, the house was a fucking mess, as usual. Which is always interesting to me because when I was growing up, everyone would always blame me for everything being dirty.
It's nice to see that even without me in the house, my family are a bunch of pigs. Especially my smug asshole of an older brother who always claimed to have no fault in making messes in our house. Now that he and my 16 yo brother are the only children still living at home full-time, the house is still as messy as ever.
I was also the only one of us kids who bought gifts this year. My brother and sister used the "poor college student" excuse. I bought presents for everyone in my family except my parents. They were understanding about it though. They told me that I should have saved my money since no one expects a student to spend money on gifts.
I got my younger brother some speakers for his computer since he had none, I got my cousin from France who's living with us a webcam so he can chat with his friends online, I got my sister a Bath and Body Works gift set, and my older brother a book on photography. Mostly everyone's gifts were under $20.
My parents just gave us all money. They do it every year instead of buying gifts. No one ever gets big extravagant presents in my family, because even though my parents and all my aunts and uncles who live here in the US are educated, white collar professionals, they are ALWAYS building something in or saving money to go to Nigeria.
They don't give us that much since they *always* have "other obligations", but I'm not complaining. I think I got $270 from them.
I also bought presents for my aunts' children--about 8 in all. I got all their gifts on the cheap from Big Lots and Wal-Mart, but I got them stuff I knew they'd love.
Being giving DID have it's advantages. My parents ended up being impressed that I took the time to buy gifts for my cousins and siblings and they seperately gave me $100 each. That upped my Christmas take to about $550 including the money my aunt gave me. I was the only one to get extra Christmas money from my parents ;P
I was amazed that I mostly got along with everyone (except of course my older brother), and I didn't contemplate suicide as much. But I was only there for 10 days. I'm so glad I don't live in the dorms any more since they only open a week before school starts. I'd have been forced to stay another week. Heaven forbid.
It's nice to see that even without me in the house, my family are a bunch of pigs. Especially my smug asshole of an older brother who always claimed to have no fault in making messes in our house. Now that he and my 16 yo brother are the only children still living at home full-time, the house is still as messy as ever.
I was also the only one of us kids who bought gifts this year. My brother and sister used the "poor college student" excuse. I bought presents for everyone in my family except my parents. They were understanding about it though. They told me that I should have saved my money since no one expects a student to spend money on gifts.
I got my younger brother some speakers for his computer since he had none, I got my cousin from France who's living with us a webcam so he can chat with his friends online, I got my sister a Bath and Body Works gift set, and my older brother a book on photography. Mostly everyone's gifts were under $20.
My parents just gave us all money. They do it every year instead of buying gifts. No one ever gets big extravagant presents in my family, because even though my parents and all my aunts and uncles who live here in the US are educated, white collar professionals, they are ALWAYS building something in or saving money to go to Nigeria.
They don't give us that much since they *always* have "other obligations", but I'm not complaining. I think I got $270 from them.
I also bought presents for my aunts' children--about 8 in all. I got all their gifts on the cheap from Big Lots and Wal-Mart, but I got them stuff I knew they'd love.
Being giving DID have it's advantages. My parents ended up being impressed that I took the time to buy gifts for my cousins and siblings and they seperately gave me $100 each. That upped my Christmas take to about $550 including the money my aunt gave me. I was the only one to get extra Christmas money from my parents ;P
I was amazed that I mostly got along with everyone (except of course my older brother), and I didn't contemplate suicide as much. But I was only there for 10 days. I'm so glad I don't live in the dorms any more since they only open a week before school starts. I'd have been forced to stay another week. Heaven forbid.