Merry Christmas! (Sorry, I wasn’t able to get to my blog until after midnight, so technically this will say December 26. It lies. It’s still Christmas to me.)
I was awake until four AM last night/this morning. I was having a nice time talking to Paul, trying to keep myself awake so I wouldn’t wake up before 10am, and also I still don’t feel too good. I went downstairs around 3:45 to check on something and I’m so glad I did – I found my poor brother Steven in the bathroom, throwing up and shaking all over. It just wasn’t good at all. He’s been really sick as well lately. Both he and I have some of the same symptoms, I think we seriously need to forget these annoying Army doctors and go to Johns Hopkins. The military physicians just can’t do anything for us, we aren’t textbook cases. While a lot of them are good, don’t get me wrong, we just have really crappy doctors. We need Hopkins because whatever it is we’ve come down with it isn’t normal.
Anyway, happy thoughts!
Today was a very laid back Christmas. It was great sitting around the Christmas tree with absolutely everybody there. Mom, Dad, Kevin, Jen, Max, Tim, Monica, Steven, myself, and even our cousin Andy. It would have been nice to have my Grandmother there, but she’s still in Tucson. But other than her, that’s the fam. It was very peaceful. 🙂
We all had fun opening presents, but then I noticed I was just sitting there while everyone else unwrapped theirs. Then I realized I was missing a present from someone I knew had gotten me something. I mentioned it to Mom, and sure enough she lost yet another box of presents. She found it about half an hour later and I had more presents, so all was well in the world.
I still didn’t have many presents, but what at first looked lacking in quantity was quickly corrected by quality. I got a digital camera. 😀 I have to admit, though, that I had to act surprised – someone accidentally slipped and told me I was getting it. It’s not exactly the one I wanted, but my parents weren’t sure which one I really wanted more. So, we’re returning the one I got and getting the better one. The one I got was a 3MP Olympus, but Steve found a 4MP Minolta online for only $50 more. That’s definitely worth the extra fifty bucks and waiting a while to play with my present.
Other presents include a compact flash card for the digital camera (a full 128MB!! Woohoo!); a lovely basket of lotions, soaps, and things; a few great books, a really awesome Real Life tshirt from Steven, a Coldplay CD (not the one I asked for, but that’s okay – it’s still an awesome album), some money, things like that. My Grandmother gave me a really amazing gift – my Great Grandmother’s tapestry handbag with real rubies in the clasp. It’s so gorgeous! I’m almost afraid to use it. I’ll have to save it for an uber-special occasion.
My parents gave me a very nice gold necklace as well. That was a very nice surprise. The only thing I really want now that I didn’t get is that special expanded edition of Lord of the Rings. But, no worries, my Mom’s going out tomorrow to get it for me as a graduation gift since I’m finally technically graduating from something. My two oldest brothers got graduation gifts when they graduated from high school, Steven and I never got anything like that since we never had any of the ceremony or anything. She’s also going to pick up the Coldplay album I asked for, as well as a calendar I asked for but she couldn’t find. I’m paying for those two things, I think. I don’t know, we’ll figure it out tomorrow.
It was a very nice Christmas. We played games, watched ‘UHF’ on DVD (I got that for Steven), talked a lot, that sort of thing. You know, that family-togetherness stuff. My only regret is that I’ve been sick for the past three days and it was at its worst today. I’ve just been so tired and felt so crappy that I haven’t really been able to participate in the group as much as I’d like to. I’m afraid that I’ve been rather dull, not as talkative as I normally would be, not quite as entertaining. And that stinks because I don’t get to see Tim and Monica too much. I’d like to be myself around them, not this pale, quiet, sickly shell. But I know they understand, so it’s okay.
Plus, something very special made up for it. 🙂 It started snowing yesterday afternoon, and by this morning the ground and the trees were covered. A most unexpected White Christmas; the perfect gift. I got some pictures of it with my regular camera. I’ll have to get the film developed soon. It was very pretty.
I’m really tired now, though. I need to get to sleep tonight so I can rest up for our Girl Day tomorrow. Mom, Jen, Monica, and I were planning on going out to lunch then to see a movie, but I’m not sure I’ll be up for it. Eating anything pretty much wipes me out, so I’m afraid sitting in a theatre for that long might not agree with me. But I want to do what I can to make it better so I can go. If I can’t, though, they’ll understand and I’ll spend the day at home with the guys, probably watching the deleted scenes from Lord of the Rings. Either way I think I’ll be okay.
I hope everyone out there had a lovely holiday season as well. Now we all get to calm down, look forward to New Years, and then take a loooong nap. Sounds very good to me.
Merry Christmas! 🙂