December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas! And a white one at that! I love how it's snowing today! To me, a Christmas without snow, isn't really Christmas! I wake up super early because my body is still on New York time. I feel like a little kid, waking up super early, to see what Santa what brought me! Let's just say, Santa is very good to me this year!
We open presents, drink our coffee, eat some food, play some cards, then mom and I take naps. Mom's accident has really taken a toll on her. Her medicine makes her really tired, really quickly. You should see her scar! It's crazy! She is glad I'm home, though, because there is someone at home who can actually curl her hair right. My dad and brother tried, and it's a major A+ for effort, but it's nice to have another woman in the house who knows what to do! =)
My aunt Tammy, cousin Tyler, his girlfriend Sam, and their baby, Caleb come over! It's so great to see them! I can't believe how much Caleb has grown since the last time I saw him! He is so cute and the happiest baby you'd ever see! He opened some of his own gifts too! I think I am more excited about his toys than he was! He just wants to play with the boxes and wrapping paper! He got some Dr. Suess puzzles, where the puzzle pieces are oversized. Sam and I had so much fun trying to put them together. It took us longer than it probably should have, and Brett and Tammy were laughing at how slow we were and how our concentration was so intense! Hey! Although the box says for ages 2-6, or whatever, it still takes some thought! ;)
Dinner is great! We don't have the traditional food spread like normal. Instead, grandma makes her homemade spaghetti! So good! Not to mention all of the desserts people have been bringing over since my mom's accident! Yum! I ate all day long! A couple other family members come over to see us! My mom's cousin, Jeff, and his mom, Leonne! Jeff is hysterical! He keeps us laughing th rest of the day!
Once things start settling down, and everyone leaves, my family decides to watch "The Hangover." Oh my God! The movie is hilarious! I went to see it in the theatres when it first came out, but it's more funny the second time you see it! Then, we plug in the Wii. For Christmas, my mom bought my dad the new Mario Brothers game for Wii! It takes the old school version and puts it into a modern day Mario Brothers! Oh my goodness! It's so much fun! We play it for probably a good two to three hours! We are so intense about it too, which is hysterical! We are yelling at each other, yelling at the t.v., shaking the controllers, and have sweaty palms! I forget how intense video games are until I get sucked into them! It's somewhat similar to the original, but obviously has different twists to it! So fun! Takes me back to when we lived in Spencer, Iowa and all four of us would fight over who got to play Nintendo--mom and dad were obsessed with Testrus, Brett liked Super Mario, and I liked my Little Mermaid game!
It's been a great Christmas of relaxation, family, and laughs! It's so great to be home and I hope this time doesn't pass by too quickly!
Note to self: You never really realize what you left behind, until it happens. When your family used to irritate you about little things, now seems like nothing when you're home; or the slow paced lifestyle you once hated, now seems to be a nice change of pace; or when you so badly wanted to get out of Iowa, now makes you realize, it's really not that bad here! You do realize the move is necessary for career and personal reasons, but where you comes from, makes you who you are, and you need to appreciate your homeland and be proud to call it home. It relates to the saying, "When you lose someone, you realize just how much that person means to you, So maybe its a good thing they're gone. So you can see just how much that person means to you. " It's the same concept to leaving the place you called home for so many years!