Christ-mehs

I don't really like the holidays. There was just a lot of fighting going on during the holidays while I was growing up. Then, when I got to be about 15, I just got myself into situations that left me upset and lonely at the "happiest time of year". Anyway, point being, I'm not particularly fond of any of the holidays (I do really like 4th of July though. I'm not really sure how that one got through, but alas, there we are).

This Christmas will be my first away from home. I am kinda sad about that. My first Dec. 25 with no snow or having to wait up in my brothers room to see what we got from Santa (my parents brought us down one at a time, youngest to oldest, which of course means I was the last to go.) In the later years, having my grandpa come give 'the grandparent gift' (which is a term I just coined) and join in the Christmas morning merriment.

The Grandparent Gift
Definition: The miscellaneous and often random gift you recieve from a family elder, because they have absolutely no idea what you would like/want/need.

Anyway, after my siblings begged to open everything and my mom would joke about having to choose 1 thing to send back to Santa, which would make the younger siblings very upset and scream and whine and throw things, we got ready to go to my grandma's (different side of the family). Around 11-12 we packed up the Oddesey with our favorite gadget/toy and went to have the super-sized family gathering down at Grandma Colleen's to show off/compare our awesomeness.

Once here, there was still that excited buzz of sharing what we got before we ate breakfast. My grandma decided long, long ago that she needed to go get a ham for this(I think its the only time of year I ever ate ham). There was also vats of eggs and oj and usually some sort of fruit salad and, of course, Mickey Mouse waffles. Again, this is the only time all year that these waffle irons, with my boss's face, are used. It's comforting.

Before we settle into a nice food coma, we got our presents from Grandma. These gifts were often preselcted by ourselves. Around Thanksgiving, she'd take us all shopping to get jean's or shoes or whatnot so we always knew what we were getting and we'd convey the appropriate amount of enthusiasm and we'd hug her and have to take a picture with her. Mostly because my mom likes to take a picture of everything and make sure she gets 2-3 shots of it all just in case the first doesn't turn out correctly. This did not please grandma. She has A LOT of grandchildren so she has to sit and smile for about 10 minutes to get through them all and she is a woman who does not enjoy smiling and posing for extended periods of time.

Anywho, I don't know that I was planning on sharing all that but i did. I'm gonna miss all that this year. And even though, the super-sized family breakfast was packed with passive-aggressive tension, it was still a nice concept to be with family on Christmas. This year, I'll be singing and dancing for other people's families, which is cool too, I guess.

In my effort to get the "humbugs" out of me, I added some holiday music to the playlist. Enjoy.

Oh and I would also like to apologize for all of the run-on sentences in this blog. I never took English in college.