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Month: December 2005

fun

fun

christmas was good, as always. i heart christmas wtih my family! even better that nate is here now.
the big gift i got was a fontanini creche set. that stuff’s expensive! except the donkey looks like he’s drunk. 🙂 drunk donkey!
i also got my awesome jena-luc shirt!!! i’m so excited for that shirt. it’s a little big, but that’s ok, i’ll deal wtih it. i also got my kill bills and firefly box set.
liz screamed when she opened my gift to her, that was fun. and i was really excited about nate’s gift from me, but it didn’t show up in time, and liz spoiled the surprise. 🙁 but it’s a O RLY shirt. haha! it’s awesome.
i saw two classmates of mine at church, didn’t say hi cuz i really don’t care about people i graduated with anymore (except angie).
monday my sisters came to st cloud and we went shopping, facing the hordes of people. ugh!
and tonight i’m going to new london again for liz’s grad party and on friday to my cousin matt’s wedding. that should be interesting!

undeniable proof

undeniable proof

i grew up a mile from my dad’s sister and her husband (kathleen and george). his other sister (one of my favorite aunts – the loopy one – colettie) worked in rochester, but every weekend she would come to her sister’s house to spend the weekend with all her nieces and nephews and the rest of her family. rarely does a family stay so close to home, almost unheard of now days, and although i thought it was wonderful at the time, as i grew older, i began to see what kind of an “effect” this had on the family members.
weirdness aside, one of my most vivid memories from when i was younger was receiving my swingset on my third birthday; another was christmas at my aunt’s house.
their house is a work of art; it’s hard to describe, but everytime i go there, i am in awe of how “put together” the house is and how coordinated all the interior design is. it has rustic charm with a touch of flair. when you first walk in, there is a good-sized porch where you hang your coats and kick off your shoes. a good 10’x12′ room. there are three doors in the porch, one, of course, comes from outside, one leads to the large living room, and the other the small-ish kitchen. both the inner doors had a window pane on the top half of the door. (sense of space is very important in the following story.)
when i was 2-1/2 years old, my family (consisting of my mom, dad, and myself) went to kathleen and george’s house for christmas eve. when i got older and my family got bigger, we started to host christmas eve at our house. but until i was about 4, we went there for christmas eve.
they opened their presents that night instead of christmas morning, so there was frantic gift unwrapping and sighs of gratitude from all. then there was a buzz circulating the room about santa claus. is he coming? my 2-year-old self was a firm believer in santa claus.
oh, how i hoped he would show up. oh, how i hoped i would meet him and see what he looked like so i could ask about his reindeer and mrs. claus. oh i hoped i hoped i hoped. so i sat on colettie’s lap and waited and watched, mostly the fireplace because it was widely known that santa came down the chimney.
then i heard sleighbells jingling through the kitchen from the porch. my attention swiftly diverted from the chimney to the door where i could glance through the window to the porch.
a flash of red!
the door to the outside was closing as i whipped through the kitchen door to the porch. i had missed him.
but in his wake was a pink and blue big wheel. ecstasy!
a few minutes later my uncle george came through the front door, rubbing his hands together and shedding his coat, explaining that he had seen reindeer tracks and had santa come? and oh boy! a big wheel!
and i was a believer. oh to have that feeling again.

xmas

xmas

MPR is playing the nutcracker suite! yay!
i have one final tonight at 5 p.m. then i’m done with school. hopefully i hear back from the mcgregor place today. i called and left a message last friday and asked that they let me know either way.
i’m leaving work today at 3 so i can do a little bit of studying before my final. and i want to go sell my books back. i should be able to break even on my stats book (i bought it online for half its price), get back 1/4 the cost of a couple others, and if they don’t offer more than $5, i’m keeping one book. the last book i know they won’t buy back because there’s a new edition (stupid editions).
then tonight i’m eating at olive garden!!! yay!! my aunt and uncle from the DC area are in town visiting and my parents are coming up and we’re all going to go eat out. i’m excited, even though olive garden is probably one of my least favorite places to eat (oh well).
in other news, i have a big headache and my neck is still bugging me.