My Awesome Chistmas

We have so much to catch up, you and I. We don't we talk as much as used to?

Merry Christmas! Mine rocked...how was yours?

Here is a recap...(please note that there is a cookie crumb jammed unde the letter "R" on my keyboad so excuse me if some words are missing their "R"'s.)

SATURDAY: Hosted a brunch fo my bithparents, parents, and little sissies from Seattle. I'm not sure what possessed me to do this, but luckily it was really fun. I bought bacon and pancake mix...I served bagels. But we had a good time and it was the first time my mom met my littlest sister (if you're new to the blog...try to keep up, I'll explain it all later) and the girl at Beans and Bagels said, "We're having a really slow day here, so I just gave you like...30 ok?" so it was a bagel festival in my dining room.
Then I layed around all afternoon eating cookies and drinking tea. Then the Sound of Music came on and I found myself singing along. (They always play that movie at Christmas even though it has nothing to do with Christmas. A few years ago Derek and I both ditched out families and ate Chicken wings together on Christmas day while watching The Sound of Music and then Mary Poppins all for nostalgia sake. We called it the "Julie Nannydrews Christmas Chicken Wing Nannathon") As I was humming the Lonely Goatherder song and eating my twelfth cookie I realized that I was a giant loser. Luckily I found JP online and we were able to get some wine and hang out before I slipped into knitting myself a nightgown and dressing the cat up as Mrs. Clause.
I did, however, sleep on the couch that night next to the lit up tree since that is one of my favorite things to do.

CHRISTMAS EVE: I spent the morning stalling and watching bad TV and talked to my brother Tate who confirmed that I was going to be receiving the best Christmas present ever. I've decided that this present deserves it's own blog and I'm not going to post that until I receive the present and can photograph it for you (with my new digi cam! Thanks Jim and Donna!) all I will say is that the present is amazing and took my brother embarassing himself all because he loves me so much. More to come on that soon! Then I was picked up by Mom and Jim. We went to the Music Box and participated in a Christmas Carol singalong led by a semi-sober Santa. During "The Christmas Song" there is a line that goes "Everybody knows a turkey..." and my mom muttered "Yeah, I'll say." Which made me giggle through the whole rest of the song. After the singalong we watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and everyone booed each time mean old Mr. Potter came on screen and cheered each time George Bailey made a powerful speech. I cied three times which is more than I've ever cried at that movie. I guess because it really is a wonderful life. I still don't understand how they ended up with a daughter named Zuzu, but whatever.
Then we went home and ate beef and I got a tummy ache (not from the beef) and my mom tucked me in because on Christmas Eve you can be 7 instead of 27 and we all went to sleep.

CHRISTMAS DAY: It appears that I wasn't as naughty as I thought I'd been and Santa did remember me! Because I have been broke I did the last year of "Make your parents a gift from the heart" which they loved and cried but next year it's straight to Macy's or I'm in trouble. My mom has always been an awesome stocking stuffer and she didn't let me down this year. The stocking was packed with hilarious, or delicious, or smell goodiest things you could imagine. But the two funniest gifts in th stocking (and of the day) were the starbucks card which upon close inspection read "To Lynn From Keith" therefore shining a bright spotlight on it's regiftedness, and the expected and sighed over leopad print Old Navy gloves and earmuffs which are purchased by my mother and returned by me EACH AND EVERY CHRISTMAS. I finally had to sit he down and say, "I don't really like these. I'm going to be taking them back...again" and we had a good laugh. I also received the pinkest, fluffiest, softest, bathrobiest bathrobe ever made in the history of man. It is so much better than yours and also so much better than the one I had been using previously. (A thin red flannel one with mooses all over it and no belt...long story, it was my dads at our lake house...sentimental? Yes...Attractive? Nein.)
After volunteering to help and then making some of the ugliest pancakes you have ever seen I took the longest bath in the history of man and my parents drove me downtown. I then had the single stupidest cab driver in Chicago drive me to Evanston ("Excuse me, why are you going SOUTH on Broadway to get to Evanston?" "This is Evanston Lady." "No, this is Edgewater" "It's Evanston...it's the suburbs" "No, it's Edgewater...I used to live in that building...") I had some presents from the birth fam which included a super nice digital camera (WOO! Expect a more picturesque blog soon! As soon as I learn how to work it that is...) and from my sisters the Amy Sedais Hospitatlity book which is hysterically helpful. Then we went to my grandparents for beef tenderloin, presents (gift card city!) and laughs. I have a four year old cousin who kept passing out the gifts and then instructing us on how to open them. It went something like this...

"Drew, go give this one to Cousin Brooke"
"Ok, which one is Cousin Brooke?"
"That one"
"Here Cousin Brooke, just untie the bow and then WRAP IT OFF"
"Do what?"
"Just, WRAP IT OFF!"
"Oh ok, do you want to wear this bow on your face?" (I ask things like this to four year olds)
"No thank you please."

He was so cute, I forgot how fun kids are to have around at Chistmas. If I don't have any nieces or nephews in the next couple years I'm going to demand that we start renting children to entertain us on Christmas Day.

After consuming more wine than was really necessary, though not as much as the Ice wine fiasco of Thanksgiving, we headed back to my uncles house where the birth fam was staying (Uncle and Aunt and those cousins were in Africa for my other cousins wedding...congratulations Njogu and Stephanie!!!) I have become somewhat of a homebody in the last year or so and have found that when I sleep in a bed that is not my own I often wake up around four in the morning with this white fear inside me for only a minute, grab my head, shrink under the covers and think frantically "Where AM I?" and then that fades and I understand. Funny that I never consider "You crashed here for the night" before thinking "Well, this is it, you've time traveled." or the ever popular "Maybe I've been in a coma for the last three years and this is my new room" or the most popular "You seem to have slept through a kidnapping of yourself, AGAIN."

Today led to Christams recovery on the couch watching movies with Jacob. When Erik came home we had some roomate bonding time watching "April Fools Day" which is about the worst horror movie ever. I mean, it's scary, but the ending is so Scooby Doo that we were all in tears laughing. It's all part of my quest to find that one horror movie that I saw as a kid that I don't know the name of that scared me away from all horror movies. April Fools Day wasn't it, although I think that I did see it when I was really little thanks to an older brother who had a horor movie fascination as a youngster. Sicko. Anyway, Christmas ended with one final and glorious gift from my darling roomies...A BEDAZZLER!! I hugged it and announced that I was going to bedazzle the shit out of everything in the house including them while they slept. Free with the bedazzler came a portable bedazzler. I was the happiest girl in the world.

I hope you all had lovely Christmases and stay tuned because my all time favorite holida of the year is mere DAYS away! There will definitely be some stories about that.

xoxo