Still in Maine
Still in Maine...
Let's see... I woke up around 11:10. I was on my side facing the rest of the room (my bed is against the window) and opened my eyes to see my sister standing there staring at me (a typical way of waking siblings up in my house). She said my mom had told her to wake me up so I'd be ready for bowling. Took a shower and was out by 11:20. I rock. Got ready, saw mum leave. Alex and I took the car (Juji didn't want to come) and drove out to bowling. Met up with Mr. and Mrs. Carroll (sort of like surrogate grandparents). They're always kind and friendly. Their oldest son, his wife, and her son have just moved up here from Texas so we met them. Very nice people, except the son is a weirdo. 23 and mooching off his parents. Apparently he's violent: yells and breaks things at the Carroll's house. When asked what he likes, his answer was "I dunno." Way to be. Also got a phone call: heard Teddy was gone for good. All was well. Awesome.
So we bowled. I got an 85 (way to start off...), 146, and 120-something. Not too shabby.
I hate the bowling alley.
Then we went to pizza hut.
I love pizza hut.
Went to Sam's Club after. Got a bunch of stuff. Got the movie "Se7en" which I've been wanting.
Came home. Cleaned up. Talked on the computer. Then we watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." No one here had seen it, so I said we should. They liked it, and it was good to laugh. Then I decided to decorate the Christmas tree. Well, that was a big-to-do. It got decorated. Smaller than usual. Kinda makes me sad. Not too many decorations got put out. I set up the creche/nativity scene in a corner. Even if no one else in this family cares what Christmas is about, I do.
You know what I miss? Being a kid. When I was little, we got the tree together. (Well, technically we still do, but I wasn't here... just listen to the story). We always went about a week before Christmas to Piper Mountain (where we still go). It's near Carmel and takes about a half hour to get there. You drive in, park where you want to, and start to look for trees. We always brought the dogs, and they had so much fun. They'd run around and every now and then you'd hear a kid shout "Hey mommy! Daddy! Look at the cute dog(s)!" So we'd tromp around, look at a thousand trees, never knowing which one to pick. We'd finally find one (that always looked like it wouldn't be big enough). At that point, we'd drag it back to the car and depending on which one we had, either set it on top and drove (very slowly!) back to the lodge thingy, or daddy and Alex would carry it over while mum drove the car back. Then they'd get it wrapped and we'd go inside. There they have free coffee, hot apple cider, and donuts. Yum. It's a small store, but filled to the brim with gorgeous wreaths (made there), and tons and tons of ornaments and such. We (almost) always get a new ornament there (one for each of us). Then we'd pay... get free coloring books, candy canes, and rulers, and drive home.
Daddy would set up the tree and the next day we'd decorate.
We have lots of Christmas stuff. Oodles. Loads. We'd bring all the boxes down, turn on Christmas music and decorate it as a family. The tree, by the way, always ended up being HUGE (even though it had looked small outside). Our tree is always covered in oodles of ornaments, colored lights, candy canes, and an angel at the top. Then we'd do all kinds of other decorations... lights outside, stuffed animals that my mom made way back when (Santa, Rudolph, and a swan...). There were little ceramic light up Christmas trees... stickers for the windows... flashlight-candles in every window. We have a beautiful creche/nativity scene that I always liked to set up. My sister always puts baby Jesus in the loft, and I always get upset and put him back on the ground next to Mary and Joseph... I love putting garland and bows on the banisters. My sister and I were always so anal about it, but it looked so pretty. All in all, our house got uber decorated.
I miss that. A lot.
We don't decorate as a family. No garland was allowed. I put the creche in a small corner where it won't disturb anyone. That's all.
When I have a family, we will ALWAYS get the tree as a family. We will ALWAYS decorate as a family. We will ALWAYS have fun. We will ALWAYS be happy. We WILL know what Christmas really is. Jesus won't just be some minor part that 'some other people think about.'
We bought food today too. It'll just be us for Christmas (my mom, dad, brother, sister, and me).
Pork loin, stuffing, dumplings, sauerkraut, salad, veggie plate, peppermint pie, rat tails (cookies), delal cookies, almond horns (cookies). Other stuff too.
Tomorrow night, we're going out for Chinese at an all you can eat buffet with the Winters (friends of ours).
Actually, it's after midnight now. That means it's the 24th.
Merry Christmas Eve, all.
Let's see... I woke up around 11:10. I was on my side facing the rest of the room (my bed is against the window) and opened my eyes to see my sister standing there staring at me (a typical way of waking siblings up in my house). She said my mom had told her to wake me up so I'd be ready for bowling. Took a shower and was out by 11:20. I rock. Got ready, saw mum leave. Alex and I took the car (Juji didn't want to come) and drove out to bowling. Met up with Mr. and Mrs. Carroll (sort of like surrogate grandparents). They're always kind and friendly. Their oldest son, his wife, and her son have just moved up here from Texas so we met them. Very nice people, except the son is a weirdo. 23 and mooching off his parents. Apparently he's violent: yells and breaks things at the Carroll's house. When asked what he likes, his answer was "I dunno." Way to be. Also got a phone call: heard Teddy was gone for good. All was well. Awesome.
So we bowled. I got an 85 (way to start off...), 146, and 120-something. Not too shabby.
I hate the bowling alley.
Then we went to pizza hut.
I love pizza hut.
Went to Sam's Club after. Got a bunch of stuff. Got the movie "Se7en" which I've been wanting.
Came home. Cleaned up. Talked on the computer. Then we watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." No one here had seen it, so I said we should. They liked it, and it was good to laugh. Then I decided to decorate the Christmas tree. Well, that was a big-to-do. It got decorated. Smaller than usual. Kinda makes me sad. Not too many decorations got put out. I set up the creche/nativity scene in a corner. Even if no one else in this family cares what Christmas is about, I do.
You know what I miss? Being a kid. When I was little, we got the tree together. (Well, technically we still do, but I wasn't here... just listen to the story). We always went about a week before Christmas to Piper Mountain (where we still go). It's near Carmel and takes about a half hour to get there. You drive in, park where you want to, and start to look for trees. We always brought the dogs, and they had so much fun. They'd run around and every now and then you'd hear a kid shout "Hey mommy! Daddy! Look at the cute dog(s)!" So we'd tromp around, look at a thousand trees, never knowing which one to pick. We'd finally find one (that always looked like it wouldn't be big enough). At that point, we'd drag it back to the car and depending on which one we had, either set it on top and drove (very slowly!) back to the lodge thingy, or daddy and Alex would carry it over while mum drove the car back. Then they'd get it wrapped and we'd go inside. There they have free coffee, hot apple cider, and donuts. Yum. It's a small store, but filled to the brim with gorgeous wreaths (made there), and tons and tons of ornaments and such. We (almost) always get a new ornament there (one for each of us). Then we'd pay... get free coloring books, candy canes, and rulers, and drive home.
Daddy would set up the tree and the next day we'd decorate.
We have lots of Christmas stuff. Oodles. Loads. We'd bring all the boxes down, turn on Christmas music and decorate it as a family. The tree, by the way, always ended up being HUGE (even though it had looked small outside). Our tree is always covered in oodles of ornaments, colored lights, candy canes, and an angel at the top. Then we'd do all kinds of other decorations... lights outside, stuffed animals that my mom made way back when (Santa, Rudolph, and a swan...). There were little ceramic light up Christmas trees... stickers for the windows... flashlight-candles in every window. We have a beautiful creche/nativity scene that I always liked to set up. My sister always puts baby Jesus in the loft, and I always get upset and put him back on the ground next to Mary and Joseph... I love putting garland and bows on the banisters. My sister and I were always so anal about it, but it looked so pretty. All in all, our house got uber decorated.
I miss that. A lot.
We don't decorate as a family. No garland was allowed. I put the creche in a small corner where it won't disturb anyone. That's all.
When I have a family, we will ALWAYS get the tree as a family. We will ALWAYS decorate as a family. We will ALWAYS have fun. We will ALWAYS be happy. We WILL know what Christmas really is. Jesus won't just be some minor part that 'some other people think about.'
We bought food today too. It'll just be us for Christmas (my mom, dad, brother, sister, and me).
Pork loin, stuffing, dumplings, sauerkraut, salad, veggie plate, peppermint pie, rat tails (cookies), delal cookies, almond horns (cookies). Other stuff too.
Tomorrow night, we're going out for Chinese at an all you can eat buffet with the Winters (friends of ours).
Actually, it's after midnight now. That means it's the 24th.
Merry Christmas Eve, all.