corporate christmas partay

well i guess one of the things that makes you feel grown up is going to the office christmas party. nevermind that my office christmas partay was held across several ballrooms with thousands of people in attendance. ross brought over roses and then we drove in his camaro to work, where we caught a shuttle downtown to the convention center (this took approx. 1hr!). when we finally arrived downtown the party was in full swing, we caught part of the cirque show dealy, got our picture taken, and browsed around the international food buffets. we walked around and heard different bands in the different rooms. we met up with some friends from work and hung out with them, eating dessert and watching a simulcast of the doobie brothers from the other room. the older crowd was living it up, all they needed was some candles or something to fully enjoy their doobie experience. the doobies were looking quite old i must say. afterwards we walked around the riverwalk a bit until the park & ride bus line went down and then caught a ride back home. it was quite the partay.

christmas times

the times of christmases past:
well the past few years as a college student i've moved back home for most of december. way back in the day i can recall going to extended family's homes for christmas, but for the past few years, we've stuck to our house, and other family has come to visit us before and after the big day. but generally in our house, a couple kids get up early and sit in their room whispering. but its been the trend it seems that my dad actually wakes US up, otherwise christmas might not start till noon or something if we had our way. at any rate once we're all up, we each take turns opening our stocking, generally youngest to oldest, except last year i think we reversed it. then we have breakfast, usually monkeybread. then we take a break for everyone to get dressed. then we all gather in the living room and one person is selected to be the santa person. for the past 5ish years this has been me, probably because my name starts with s, i'm not sure. at any rate i go to the christmas tree and find one gift per person and distribute them. then we take turns each person opening their gift. then we have a second round, etc till all the presents are gone. sometimes someone might need to open 2 if they have a lot of presents and someone might have fewer presents (but quantity does not always indicate quality!). but eventually we finish about time to eat lunch or something. a lot of times in the afternoon we will go to see a movie. and thats pretty much how we do christmas.


the times of christmases present:
this year i get about 5 days rather than 30ish days off for christmas. matt & bree will be coming in for a short while, from london, rather than up from college station. i put up my own christmas tree. saturday night ross and i are headed to our corporate christmas party downtown. we went downtown and saw the lights. i also hope to drive around to one of the nice neighborhoods and look at some more lights. its just really not that cold. i still have a lot of christmas shopping to do. we will have christmas in graham, year 2. can you say christmas bonus? whoop.

the times of christmases future:
???

my christmas tree

so here's a pic of my first christmas tree. its obviously artificial, i picked it up at target, along with a few ornaments & candy canes & lights. its very relaxing to just sit and watch the lights. ross came over and helped me put it up, on the 1st of december. we drank egg nog and i made him watch its a wonderful life, because its one of my fave movies in the whole world that i watch every year around christmas, and he'd never seen it before. so it was pretty fun, and i'm really glad i went ahead and put the thing up. now, if you come to visit me in, say, march, and its still up, please help me take it down.

its not like you couldnt see it coming, but still

well, devoted reader, i regret to inform you that it has happened. yes, thaddeaus has attacked and murdered bling. i normally feed them when i get home from work, at 5 or 6, sometimes 7 or 8. occasionally i'll forget or something and just feed them whenever, sometime before i go to bed. well today, after church, ross and i went out shopping and such, and then we ended up going to an 8pm showing of the chronicles of narnia movie (it was ok, i think i actually like the old movies better, surprisingly enough). so, i got home rather late, to find bling attacked and dead, and thaddeaus just sitting there all alone. i wonder if he's lonely or if he now feels as if he has conquered the aquarium. perhaps now i'll get a verry large fish and see if it will eat thaddeaus. or maybe ross and i will have frog legs for dinner tomorrow nite, give him a taste of his own medicine.

christmas time & the riverwalk

so here's a first: i was getting my haircut and the lady asks me, so do you have kids? no ma'am i most certainly do not. ok, so maybe its not the first time people have wondered that, i distinctly remember feeling rather awkward sometimes while caring for my younger siblings at the mall or such, but at any rate its the first time someone has directly asked me that. i did feel better after it became clear to me that the haircut lady had simply asked the question so as to transition into a rant about commercialized Christmas and how no one bakes or makes homemade presents anymore like they did (and no lie she actually sad this) "back in the day."

sometimes i like to torture people with thoughtful questions. one i enjoy pulling out of my arsenal is what is the best christmas gift you've ever received? but perhaps my favorite of all is what's the best christmas gift you've ever given?

i've enjoyed many wonderful christmases at our hizzouse. and despite the fact that matt and i enjoy kidding our parents about asking for basketball shoes for christmas a couple times, we got some pretty dang good presents....

there was the year matt and i both got new bikes. oh yeah. back in the days before one drives, one's bike is of upmost importance. and we got cool ones. in fact, i took mine to college with me. at any rate my dad hid them in the guest bathroom. after we'd opened up all the other presents, he somehow lured us into going in there (probably he told us we'd better clean it before guests arrived or something) and we were elated to find new bikes.

there was also the year we got a basketball goal. if my memory serves correctly my dad set it up in the shop in the backyard. thats right folks, we had an indoor basketball court...with a tin roof. i remember playing out there in the rain, it was so deafening. but, and forgive me matt for saying this, but matt and i would have big ol tournaments. i forget exactly how we played, but we'd represent certain college teams, and probably have some sort of free throw shooting contest to determine who moved on in the brackets. good times.

one year we got a pingpong table. there was much ruckus going on early in the morning as it was being assembled. my favorite part of that christmas was watching my grandmother and grandfather duel in a ping pong game. that ping pong table provided many hours of entertainment.

there was also the year i got my guitar. my brother and ER spent some time picking out just the one they knew i would love. my family hid it in the guitar case of the guitar i was borrowing at the time, back in my room. j-jo got her keyboard that year too.

that same year i believe it was, my brother bought me a ring from james avery that he knew i wanted, but had cut out of my christmas list because i really wanted the guitar. it totally surprised me and i think its been one of the best christmas gifts i've ever gotten.

tonight i participated in the commercialization of christmas. ross and i went down to the famed riverwalk, and took one of those little boat tours to check out all the christmas lights. it was pretty cool and we also had some good bbq at the county line. thats all for now, check in next time for a glimpse into christmas traditions of my past and things i'm doing this yr, my first christmas out on my own.

ross and me at the riverwalk...

word of the day

logorrhea: excessive talkativeness

yes, i am quite familiar with this. it is quite frustrating to me.

fish update: bling is hanging in there, under the watchful eye of thaddeaus.

work update: its alrite. put in a nice 12 hr day today, which is contributing to my lack of literary prowess at the moment.

when i get some new batteries for my camera, i will upload a picture of my most fabulous christmas tree. until then, thats all i got.