18:17 - 2004-12-14
Merii Kurisumasu!
December has arrived and the holiday spirit permeates in to choke us all with glee ^_^ In case I don't have access to this hard drive, here's the Christmas pic for this year. Have a very merry!
AFTER CHRISTMAS
I didn't want to add another Christmas entry, because: A) I didn't want to have two entries with the same Christmas pic in them, B) I didn't want to use two different Christmas pics, and C) I couldn't think of any more unique ways to convey the same mundane "merry Christmas" phrase. It takes me all year to come up with those things.
It's been a really nice holiday for me. I almost wish Lil Jerky lived somewhere nearby so I could see what Hannukah is like...I hope it's not like that Adam Sandler movie *cringes*. On Christmas Eve, my socially gauche family flooded into our house, just like they had planned. I had spent the past couple of days cleaning it, which is unpleasant because it is cold and because....well, cleaning a house for ingrateful rude people just isn't ever that pleasant. Since my grandmother owns the house, our rights to privacy, respect and any other kind of consideration is immediately overrided. We are simply told that everyone is going to show up in our house and so, as good obligated hostesses, we clean like mad. Then when my grandmother shows up, she scrutinizes the place and finds things to complain about as I glare and snarl at her. I am the only one who does this, for some reason, and am widely viewed on this side of the family as being "The Unreasonable, Selfish, Inaffectionate One". Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one left around here who has a soul. Go figure.
Anyway, after all the grunt work was taken care of and my grandmother had made a thorough complaint about how my cat had "chewed on her cabinets", we all sat down to open presents. My mom was really happy with everything she got, Nana managed to keep her trap shut long enough for us to regain some sanity, and eventually Kouji came by and opened his presents from us. After Kouji got there, everything seemed to cheer up a lot. It actually felt like a holiday and not a health inspection or something. I smiled happily for the first time all morning. Then I swiftly booted my relatives out of my house. From that point the day got better and better. We assembled and played with marshmallow guns, and watched some strange new Christmas cartoons containing newer, more secular topics such as Santa's car, hearing impaired fleas, and dinosaurs. I'm pretty sure they've made every secular Christmas song into a low-budget cartoon, hee hee hee. Around 17:00 we went to the candle-light worship service at church, which was really nice. Hundreds of tiny fires burning brightly in an enclosed space...Sheer heaven, except that it was so crowded we had to sit in the choir loft and we couldn't hear the handbells very well from there. When the service was over, Mom, Kouji, Lil' Doodoo and I went over to my dad's mom's house (Grammy's) because she had invited us specially to her annual Christmas Eve shin-dig thing, which I look forward to every year. All the people from that side of the family get together and talk about their lives and hobbies and other leisurely subjects while they eat snacks and look at pictures and things. It feels warm and friendly and familiar. Quite unlike the Holiday Rage-Fest that Nana always cooks up. If my Dad's family doesn't like me or something that I do, or someone that I bring with me, at least they're kind enough (and, in the case of Kouji, intelligent enough) not to say anything about it. They act nice, if it's acting at all. Imagine a place where people actually get along and accept each other joyfully. That's our family. They not only let Kouji come, which Nana couldn't do without frowning sourly, but Grammy invited my mother to come too (her son's ex-wife) so that Mom wouldn't be left home all alone on Christmas Eve. I was surprised at this, considering things, but she only said, "She's the mother of my grandchildren. Of course I'd like to have her come." I regret that I didn't get to sing anything for them, since they usually ask me to. We just didn't get to it this time. We (that is, Kouji and I) talked to people about trucking, digital camera's, the food, schools the older folks had gone to when they were our age, how to make cheese-ball, jets, and just about everything else. Aunt Deana bought my sister and I some make-up for Christmas. She remembered that I don't often wear any, so she bought me some that I could eat as well. It was some kind of glittery powder that tasted like marshmallows. I was covert enough to avoid being heckled about that. But Aunt Deana did decide to make me up a bit in Gina's turquoise maskara. It looked cool, and I didn't mind it so much (it was clumpy or heavy, and she applied it so it would look good), but my clothes wear all red and black, which looks kind of weird with turquoise. We were exhausted by the time we finally got home, but I still let Kouji open one of the many presents I had gotten him. I bought him so many that once they were wrapped, I couldn't remember what was in all of them ^_^
Lil' Doodoo sent a package earlier this month to her friend Kristian in Sweden, so I agreed to wake her up at 5 am (noon, Swedish time) to wish him a merry Christmas and we could be around to hear him open his package. Turns out we woke him up...Kristian seems to sleep an awful lot...
I rolled out of hte rack myself at a pathetic eleven o'clock, probably my latest rising on Christmas in the entire history of my life. We opened our presents, and then Kouji called and told us he'd gotten an Xbox (along with Halo 2), some strange gyrating hand-exerciser, a deck of nifty invisible cards, and copy of The Art of War with Chinese and literal translations. He'd done a really good job with the presents he bought for his family as well...It's impossible to not be amazed by Kouji's knack for these things. His presents to me were wonderful too ^_^
As far as my presents go, the one's I got from Kouji were by far the best. I didn't really see many things that I wanted this year, and what things I did want never seemed to come to mind when people asked me for stuff. So most of my gifts were warm clothes, which I really appreciate, or things that I don't really know what to do with, like body wash and plush disney toys...But I did get plenty of "Greenbacks"! *gives a big toothy smile and a thumbs up* It's hopeless to give me money, I just spend it on Kouji ^_^ Luckily, my family hasn't learned to anticipate that quiiite yet so I'm still getting some ^_~
For the most part, I think Kouji's stomach just hurt on Christmas Day. Eventually he had go home so he could get his medicine which he'd forgotten that morning. Mom and Gina wanted me to go with them to give the Starkeys (friends of the family, Corina, Gloria and them) the presents we'd gotten them, so I sighed and went along. When we got to Gloria's house, Austin (the small, chubby, hyper one) told us he'd gotten Halo 2 for Christmas also, but that the box hadn't come with a game in it for some reason. He had three controllers though, and Kouji had mentioned something about calling him back if we thought we'd be at their house long enough to play, saying that he'd bring his controller along if we'd like him to. So.....within fifteen minutes Kouji was back again, and happily smoked the rest of us at Halo, which he brought along. Austin (who's bee playing video games nonstop since he just got out of surgery) was hopping mad that someone could actually beat him. I wasn't quite adjusted to the controls yet, so at first I just wandered along like an autistic person, into the paths of bullets, plasma beams, and vehicles. At one point, when I had just gained a shield and thought I was safe for the time, Kouji came out of nowhere in a Banshee and tumbled my flailing, feebly shooting little man along the ground, until my shield ran out. It was seriously hilarious ^_^ Eventually I got the hang of things so that Kouji and I could team up with a Warthog. I manned the turret, and Kouji drove us around, mowing down the other two players, spreading laughter and frustration ^_^ The fun went on until midnight, at which point Kouji developed a headache, so we settled down and drive home through the cold, still, moonlit night.
