Home on the Marsh, Parts 1-3
Part 1: In Which Sarah Turns 20 and Inherits Too Much Furniture
Well! December 14th was all fun and games, I suppose. Helped Susan move out of good ole' 313. Sad, but necessary. I also said goodbye to Tommy for SEVEN MONTHS. VERY sad, but also necessary. Oh, and I turned 20. Not so sad, but also one of those necessary things that seem to have plagued me that day. XD
Along with Susan's departure I was faced with a single room, at least for now. Which means I'm technically "underassigned" but somehow haven't made the official list... not that I'm complaining. But that left me, Kara, and Beth trying to rearrange my room for one person successfully. Which only took around three hours, since all my original designs made the room feel like a hallway, with the beds bunked on one side and all the furniture on the other. Once I gave up and moved all my clothes to Susan's old closet, then slid a desk up against MY old closet creating more wall space things got easier, though.
My parental units came around 6:30 pm and took Kara and me out to dinner for my birthday. They brought a bouquet of roses and an embarrasing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Balloon... along with a new digital camera, complete with memory card and warranty. *_* I still haven't had my "family" birthday dinner, so that camera, a check from Grandma and some clothes and the Memoires of a Geisha DVD from my Aunty Ann are all I've gotten so far. I ordered myself a bunch of anime, which my mother is wrapping and divying up between christmas and my birthday, so I'm expecting that along with whatever my brother got me still to come.
Named my christmas present from Tommy "Dietrich" btw. It's a stuffed polar bear. It also doesn't speak anything but German.
Yes, I name, talk to, and sleep with my stuffed animals. Anyone who doesn't is either a) lying, or b) sadly missing out.
Part 2: In Which Sarah Discovers THE PROBLEM
So I get home and crash on the 14th. The 15th, and I wake up to find that...
THE MAIN CHRISTMAS TREE IS POPULATED WITH TINY, INSECT-LIKE MULTI-COLORED ITALIAN LIGHTS instead of our USUAL big light-bulbs.
I about had a coronary on the spot. Then my mother informs me that the old lights are twenty years old, and have pretty much all broken and she doesn't have the time to sit around and figure out which lights have bad strands, or which strands have bad lights.
So, I took up the mantle. Sat down for two hours and messed with the lights. Turns out, yeah- they're pretty much busted. "Blast," thinks I, but I'm not down yet. So I go up to mother dearest and inform her that we need new lights, because "it's not Christmas without the big lights." She informs Father dearest, who smiles a little then goes off to his archery tournament. I stew a little. Mom goes to pick up Charlie from U of I. Comes back, and we discuss the problem further. She suggests that I go out and buy NEW lights, but at the time its snowing and Dad's home and its time for dinner. So we eat, then I predictably get shafted for the TV so I go upstares and crochet with a vengeance Madame La Farge would have envied. Then, sleep.
Part 3: In Which Sarah Decorates for Christmas
Today, the 16th, was the annual Santa Brunch at the Hindsdale Golf Club; a festivity I lamentingly attend whenever I cannot weasel my way out of it. It involves playing nice with the cousins, the most tolerable of which are around six years younger than me and the least tolereable of which is 3 years younger than me. The least tolerable one is also the closest one in age to my brother and me, and pretty much a bona-fide lush at 17 whose face would apparantly fall off if she cracked a smile.
She'll probably die of alcohol poisoning at some point. You'd think Aunt Mary would keep a better eye on her, given our heritage of alcoholics. *le sigh*
This event also involves Uncle Tom, resident black sheep of the family. While I'm the certified crazy of my generation on the Dickey side, they must have broken the mold creating HIS myriad of problems back at whatever factory he comes from. He's a genius bi-polar patent attorney for the US government who sports no social skills to speak of, while holding a masters and almost PhD in Nuclear things. But don't let his good points fool you- he also has the animosity of most of his remaining relatives for some thing or another.
After escaping said fiasco, we got home and Charlie took off to visit his friends. Mother FINALLY got Dad to go with us to get new lights, which we found at Walgreens after going to Home Depot, Jewel and Wal-Mart. I veritably ripped down those nasty twinkly things and put up the GOOD lights faster than my mother thought humanly possible. I then attacked the ornament boxes, and cleared through two and a half.
A good four-hour operation, but now the tree's DONE. That just leaves the rest of the family room... like the nativity set, and those reindeer made out of wood, etc.
So now I'm sipping some Chai tea with skim milk- an addiction I've formed at Hatties, sad to say- and typing this tale to the sounds of christmas music.
Epilogue...
Mom also finally went through some of her old college clothing, which I can now wear... *evil laugh* Some of the stuff is ADORABLE and VINTAGE and WARM. All factors I like in a clothing item. XD
I'm also wondering why the hell all this Christmas tom-foolery means anything to me, since I AM a determined Agnostic. I just love tradition, I guess. Maybe I should be a catholic; I hear they're really into meaningless tradition. XD
Did I mention I've got a one-way ticket to hell? Because I do... I really, really do...