A Merry Little Christmas

Well, Christmas has come and gone. Thought I'd post the ceremonial "How I Spent My Holiday" post, just for fun.

On Friday night, we bounced over to my aunt's house. Everyone was there, and I do mean everyone. They had four kids, all of whom are married. All four of these couples have kids and/or dogs. Let's see...Aaron's two kids and one dog, Amanda's two, Ann's four, and Ashley's dog...yeah, it was absolutely bonkers. Nice to see them all again, but only in small doses. I had fun, though, when I sat down to play the piano, a few of the kids just stared at me. Apparently, it hadn't occurred to them that you could make actual music on the piano, rather than just banging on it.

My uncle has this thing he does--he stands outside at the end of their driveway dressed as Santa Claus and hands out candy canes and waves at passing cars. He's done this for the last couple of years, I think, and he's become quite a local celebrity. He was even on the news for it. A lot of people will stop by with their kids, and some even stop to take pictures. I think it's awesome.

On Saturday, we went up to see my grandmother in South Dakota to have lunch with her and my great-aunt for Christmas Eve. Went to a buffet. Much enjoyment was had by all.

When we got home, we started dinner, and did the traditional opening of the first presents. Every year, my sister and I get pajamas, which we open on Christmas Eve so we can wear them for Christmas (kind of childish, but dammit, it's tradition, and I like pj's!!). Then we open our gifts to each other. This year my pj's had monkeys on them, and I got matching slippers!! Arwen gave me two CDs--the soundtrack for Miracle (which is such an awesome score), and the soundtrack for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, this show that opened on Broadway last year. I'll definitely be passing this one around to the gang--it has such illustrious songs as "My Unfortunate Erection" and "I Speak Six Languages." You get the idea.

I gave Arwen two CDs as well--Idina Menzel's Still and Ray Charles and Friends. She glomped me. And you know you're in college when you get a three-hole punch as a Christmas gift, and you're THRILLED. Well...I was *grin* The funniest gift of Christmas Eve, though, was something I had picked up for my dad in the campus bookstore. I'd seen it, and knew he had to have it. It's a little Snoopy doll, wearing a shirt that says "Joe Mistletoe," and he's got a sprig of mistletoe on his hat, and when you squeeze his hand, he makes smoochie noises. Dad cracked up.

We had dinner, and went to Midnight Mass...which started at ten *laugh* This is the first year we've had to sit in the choir balcony, and the first year that we haven't been able to sit together. Arwen and I sat two rows ahead of our parents because there just wasn't room. Whoops...oh well. Can you believe that we were out of there in under an hour? It started at ten, we were heading out to our car at ten minutes to eleven. Pretty amazing for a Christmas service, huh? Then we went and got Icees from Kum and Go (another tradition of ours). And then we went home, opened another gift each, and went to bed. I slept quite peacefully.

Woke up early, because Arwen had to work at noon (she works at the movie theatre). We had breakfast, and the Tearing of Paper began. Here's a quick List o' Loot: the stuff from Christmas Eve, candy, pens and various other small items, a lint brush (which was actually on my Christmas list), some uber-awesome clothes (God bless Old Navy!!), dinero, a memory card and print paper for my digital camera, a pizza pan and pizza cutter, a pizza oven (can you believe it?!? SQUEE!!), a DVD/VCR combo (my DVD player died tragically a couple months ago), Murder by Death on DVD (funny, funny movie), Azumanga Daioh, vol. 5 (my parents bought me something anime related!!), Corpse Bride soundtrack (the songs have a lot more merit the second time you listen to them), a really nice photo album (which will probably become my Europe album), and the big one, I GOTS A GUITAR!!!! Plus all the accessories for learning how to play it. All in all, I am one happy little girl ^.^

Spent Christmas Day with the family, just hanging out--'cept for Sis, who had to go to work. Prime rib for dinner (most yummy!), and then just hung out for the rest of the night. Got on a writing kick Sunday night, cranked out two more 30 Kisses stories that will be posted soon enough, I s'pose.

Yesterday, got Furuba vol. 12 (FINALLY!!) See, they released volume 11 back in, what, August, I think? Most manga places release new volumes every two months. But no, they're now releasing Fruits Basket one every four freakin' months!!! Volume 13 is out in April *sigh* Want more...oh yeah, and I got the new Case Closed DVD. Good stuff.

And now today, got more fun plans. I'm getting together with msbbt and bishonen_gurl for lunch and movies. We've basically got two restaurants where we like to go. If we're not wanting to sit around too much, we got to Long John Silver's-slash-A&W; that's our traditional place. But if we want to sit and have a nice meal, we go Coyote Canyon, all the way. That's where we're going today. Since two of us are away at college nine months out of the year, we always try to get together and do something during breaks when everyone's home.

And then on New Year's...not quite sure what's going to happen. Tentative plans have been made, yes?

Well, that was my Christmas. Now to go bathe and stuff before I go out. Oh yeah, and all my pals on campus who read this: I'm going to be passing around The Boy from Oz soundtrack. My sister lent it to me, and it is AWESOME. It's worth listening to just for "The Boy Next Door" alone. *laughs and sings* Bi-coastal...

Much love,
~ Candy-chan #^^#

Coming home used to feel so good
I'm a stranger now in my neighborhood
I've seen the world at a faster pace
And I'm coming now from a different place
Though I may look the same way to you
Underneath, there is somebody new

I am not the boy next door
I don't belong like I did before
Nothing ever seems like it used to be
You can have your dreams, but you can't have me
Oh, I can't come back here anymore
'Cause I am not the boy next door
- "The Boy Next Door," Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz

A Merry Little Christmas

Well, Christmas has come and gone. Thought I'd post the ceremonial "How I Spent My Holiday" post, just for fun.

On Friday night, we bounced over to my aunt's house. Everyone was there, and I do mean everyone. They had four kids, all of whom are married. All four of these couples have kids and/or dogs. Let's see...Aaron's two kids and one dog, Amanda's two, Ann's four, and Ashley's dog...yeah, it was absolutely bonkers. Nice to see them all again, but only in small doses. I had fun, though, when I sat down to play the piano, a few of the kids just stared at me. Apparently, it hadn't occurred to them that you could make actual music on the piano, rather than just banging on it.

My uncle has this thing he does--he stands outside at the end of their driveway dressed as Santa Claus and hands out candy canes and waves at passing cars. He's done this for the last couple of years, I think, and he's become quite a local celebrity. He was even on the news for it. A lot of people will stop by with their kids, and some even stop to take pictures. I think it's awesome.

On Saturday, we went up to see my grandmother in South Dakota to have lunch with her and my great-aunt for Christmas Eve. Went to a buffet. Much enjoyment was had by all.

When we got home, we started dinner, and did the traditional opening of the first presents. Every year, my sister and I get pajamas, which we open on Christmas Eve so we can wear them for Christmas (kind of childish, but dammit, it's tradition, and I like pj's!!). Then we open our gifts to each other. This year my pj's had monkeys on them, and I got matching slippers!! Arwen gave me two CDs--the soundtrack for Miracle (which is such an awesome score), and the soundtrack for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, this show that opened on Broadway last year. I'll definitely be passing this one around to the gang--it has such illustrious songs as "My Unfortunate Erection" and "I Speak Six Languages." You get the idea.

I gave Arwen two CDs as well--Idina Menzel's Still and Ray Charles and Friends. She glomped me. And you know you're in college when you get a three-hole punch as a Christmas gift, and you're THRILLED. Well...I was *grin* The funniest gift of Christmas Eve, though, was something I had picked up for my dad in the campus bookstore. I'd seen it, and knew he had to have it. It's a little Snoopy doll, wearing a shirt that says "Joe Mistletoe," and he's got a sprig of mistletoe on his hat, and when you squeeze his hand, he makes smoochie noises. Dad cracked up.

We had dinner, and went to Midnight Mass...which started at ten *laugh* This is the first year we've had to sit in the choir balcony, and the first year that we haven't been able to sit together. Arwen and I sat two rows ahead of our parents because there just wasn't room. Whoops...oh well. Can you believe that we were out of there in under an hour? It started at ten, we were heading out to our car at ten minutes to eleven. Pretty amazing for a Christmas service, huh? Then we went and got Icees from Kum and Go (another tradition of ours). And then we went home, opened another gift each, and went to bed. I slept quite peacefully.

Woke up early, because Arwen had to work at noon (she works at the movie theatre). We had breakfast, and the Tearing of Paper began. Here's a quick List o' Loot: the stuff from Christmas Eve, candy, pens and various other small items, a lint brush (which was actually on my Christmas list), some uber-awesome clothes (God bless Old Navy!!), dinero, a memory card and print paper for my digital camera, a pizza pan and pizza cutter, a pizza oven (can you believe it?!? SQUEE!!), a DVD/VCR combo (my DVD player died tragically a couple months ago), Murder by Death on DVD (funny, funny movie), Azumanga Daioh, vol. 5 (my parents bought me something anime related!!), Corpse Bride soundtrack (the songs have a lot more merit the second time you listen to them), a really nice photo album (which will probably become my Europe album), and the big one, I GOTS A GUITAR!!!! Plus all the accessories for learning how to play it. All in all, I am one happy little girl ^.^

Spent Christmas Day with the family, just hanging out--'cept for Sis, who had to go to work. Prime rib for dinner (most yummy!), and then just hung out for the rest of the night. Got on a writing kick Sunday night, cranked out two more 30 Kisses stories that will be posted soon enough, I s'pose.

Yesterday, got Furuba vol. 12 (FINALLY!!) See, they released volume 11 back in, what, August, I think? Most manga places release new volumes every two months. But no, they're now releasing Fruits Basket one every four freakin' months!!! Volume 13 is out in April *sigh* Want more...oh yeah, and I got the new Case Closed DVD. Good stuff.

And now today, got more fun plans. I'm getting together with msbbt and bishonen_gurl for lunch and movies. We've basically got two restaurants where we like to go. If we're not wanting to sit around too much, we got to Long John Silver's-slash-A&W; that's our traditional place. But if we want to sit and have a nice meal, we go Coyote Canyon, all the way. That's where we're going today. Since two of us are away at college nine months out of the year, we always try to get together and do something during breaks when everyone's home.

And then on New Year's...not quite sure what's going to happen. Tentative plans have been made, yes?

Well, that was my Christmas. Now to go bathe and stuff before I go out. Oh yeah, and all my pals on campus who read this: I'm going to be passing around The Boy from Oz soundtrack. My sister lent it to me, and it is AWESOME. It's worth listening to just for "The Boy Next Door" alone. *laughs and sings* Bi-coastal...

Much love,
~ Candy-chan #^^#

Coming home used to feel so good
I'm a stranger now in my neighborhood
I've seen the world at a faster pace
And I'm coming now from a different place
Though I may look the same way to you
Underneath, there is somebody new

I am not the boy next door
I don't belong like I did before
Nothing ever seems like it used to be
You can have your dreams, but you can't have me
Oh, I can't come back here anymore
'Cause I am not the boy next door
- "The Boy Next Door," Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz