Christmas
Christmas is not, generally, a good time for me.
I work retail, and am under constant attack by stressed-out people with bad attitudes. This time of year, they far outnumber the awesome customers.
The weather has a tendency to turn rather foul in December. I am sans-car, riding my bike to-and-from work in bitterly cold rain, trying not to get flattened by crazy drivers and mall traffic. (Sunrise Mall lies directly in my path to work.)
I am constantly reminded that Christmas is all about being with your family, that it's a time of togetherness. My biological family is not a group of people I enjoy spending any time around.
So this Christmas comes as a pleasant surprise. Sure, there were still crowds of bed-tempered customers, freezing, peril-filled bike rides and all that--but I had a wonderful dinner last night with my closest friends. My real family. We ate great food, built graham cracker houses, then sat beside a roaring fireplace and spent a while just talking and laughing and generally being happy.
It's the sort of night that reminds you of the good things in life.
I love my friends very much. I am grateful to have them in my life.
Aron, Erica, Jason, Lacey, and Bryan--the world be a little darker without you. Thank you.
(P.S. It turns out that my mother, who generally re-gifts me with ugly family antiques, actually took some time to think about me and who I am. I usually get the idea that she picks out gifts for this idea she has of who she'd like me to be. This year I received a beautiful, simple jade turtle pendant. This one simple gift shows more care and thought on my mother's part than any gift I have ever received from her in the past. My mother is one of those people who thinks that gifts=love, so this is a rather big deal to me.)
I work retail, and am under constant attack by stressed-out people with bad attitudes. This time of year, they far outnumber the awesome customers.
The weather has a tendency to turn rather foul in December. I am sans-car, riding my bike to-and-from work in bitterly cold rain, trying not to get flattened by crazy drivers and mall traffic. (Sunrise Mall lies directly in my path to work.)
I am constantly reminded that Christmas is all about being with your family, that it's a time of togetherness. My biological family is not a group of people I enjoy spending any time around.
So this Christmas comes as a pleasant surprise. Sure, there were still crowds of bed-tempered customers, freezing, peril-filled bike rides and all that--but I had a wonderful dinner last night with my closest friends. My real family. We ate great food, built graham cracker houses, then sat beside a roaring fireplace and spent a while just talking and laughing and generally being happy.
It's the sort of night that reminds you of the good things in life.
I love my friends very much. I am grateful to have them in my life.
Aron, Erica, Jason, Lacey, and Bryan--the world be a little darker without you. Thank you.
(P.S. It turns out that my mother, who generally re-gifts me with ugly family antiques, actually took some time to think about me and who I am. I usually get the idea that she picks out gifts for this idea she has of who she'd like me to be. This year I received a beautiful, simple jade turtle pendant. This one simple gift shows more care and thought on my mother's part than any gift I have ever received from her in the past. My mother is one of those people who thinks that gifts=love, so this is a rather big deal to me.)