Here's to a new 2006.
Let's see. Christmas went well, despite all of the odds against it. I got everything I asked for, the kids were super fun, and we ended up having ham for Christmas instead of a deli meat tray. My 45 year old uncle and I had a heated discussion about Harry Potter (he doesn't think Dumbledore is actually dead either) during which we sorted my dad into Hufflepuff (because they're useless). My mom didn't talk to anyone and was in a bad mood, but her being in a good mood on a family holiday would be a bit too much to ask for, I guess.
Stayed for a pretty long time after Christmas and came back here on Thursday. My mom said to me on Wednesday night, "Are you sure you have to go back so early? We miss you." I don't understand why she doesn't want me to go back but doesn't interact with me and basically treats me like crap while I'm there. Whatever.
There's a house on Route 16 in the middle of Litchfield that gives excessive Christmas lights a new meaning. When Jenny drove past it last winter, she called me and asked if they were for real. I tried to get a picture, but I had to pull into a nearby parking lot because the house is on the main road and I can't exactly stop in the middle and take a picture. But yes, there are manicans (one is mowing the grass), a working miniature ferris wheel, and thousands of Christmas lights. This is just the view from one side of it.
Been hanging out a lot, enjoying this time with my friends before the grind of school starts again, and before Molly takes off for Europe. I had a great New Years Eve, probably the best I've had ever. I spent it with good friends. My house may be a disaster and there may be homemade pizza remnants spread throughout the kitchen, and I may have not went anywhere or did anything special, but I was with people I care about and have fun with, and that's what is important. I got to spend Molly's last night at UIS for the next five months with her and we proved that women are the better sex, well, when Roger and Brad are representing the other sex. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary tonight, but I had a good night. I'm looking forward to spending next semester with (most) of the people I started the year off with.
2006. A new year. It's so cliche, but it's a new start. I'm ready to make it better than 2005. 2005 was a good year for me. The end was a little rough, but overall, I'd say it was a pretty good year. I just want to make 2006 better. I've got 365 days to do it, anyway.
On a side note, my uncle is coming home, half of a foot lighter, but coming home, nonetheless. The jeep he was riding in hit a roadside bomb and he lost all five toes on one foot, maybe more of his foot. Atleast he's alive, that's all I can say. All the kids know is that he was in a car accident and is coming home. He's being flown to a military hospital in Germany and they'll do what they can there and when he is stabilized he'll be brought home to a hospital in St. Louis. Kind of makes the war a bit more real, you know? You hear about it on TV and radio and read about it on the internet and newspapers, but until something happens to someone you know, it doesn't seem like it's really happening over there.