I think this blog is an inverse reflection of how things go in my life. If things are going well, I tend to be busier and I have longer time gaps between postings, if things are not going so well, I have more posts.
Then again, you look at the content and know that this rule falls apart based on what I talk about.
Anyway, this past Christmas was the first Christmas that I did not spend with my immediate family, nor with the family of a boyfriend, so things were different, but they were also the same in a lot of ways.
It all starts on the 23rd, my cousin Josie has her son and his family over for Christmas dinner, and as I experienced later, her daughters and their families showed up as well. So there's about four generations of folks there, fourteen people in all at this one-bedroom condo in Hyattsville. It was chaotic, but it was an organized chaos, especially since the little ones do know how to behave. Dinner was good, the usual kind of "Christmas" dinner (we were holding this early since her son and his wife had to work on Christmas day and they live up in Hagerstown) with ham, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and such. Most of the afternoon would be spent watching the Redskins and Vikings play.
Late Sunday afternoon I headed back home to Greenbelt and was picked up by JH to head up to Hershey, PA to visit one of his friends. We got to Hershey and talked for a bit before hitting Red Robin for dinner. Since the park was right there, we headed over to see the Christmas lights on display at Hershey park. First we started out with a ride inside their "Chocolate World" building that detailed how Hershey makes their chocolate, complete with singing animatronic (sp?) cows! It was so freaking cheesey, but cute.
We walked through the park and looked at Christmas lights, along with taking in a few rides and seeing reindeer. I'm still trying to figure out how donner became donder according to their signs, maybe it's an old-fashioned spelling that I am not aware of. It was fun, and now I have a preview of what the park will be like when I go there next summer to actually ride their rollercoasters.
Shockingly enough President Bush did something right for once and gave Federal workers the day off on Christmas Eve, so I spent part of the day hanging out with Joshua. He invited JH to dinner so he came by and we enjoyed a meal of chicken, stuffing, green bean casserole, biscuits, and pie before JH and I headed over to the Christmas Eve service at my church. This is significant in its own right, but that's a whole separate topic.
The service was very nice, it ran like a Sunday service except with a lot more hymns. JH kind of stood back and watched the proceedings, but eventually got into it. There was a reception afterwards and he really seemed to enjoy meeting some of the other members. When we talked on the way home he said he could see himself going with me about once a month, which was jaw-dropping for me. We got to my place and exchanged our gifts. I got him a Baltimore Ravens winter pack, which was a knit hat, gloves, and a scarf with the Ravens logo on it. He got me a Ravens throw, some candy, and Ravens beer bottle cozies. I am so set for the game on Sunday. Eventually he had to head home as he had to work the next morning.
Christmas day was one place where I did not have to break with traditions in a sense, they just changed context a bit. I went up to Columbia, MD to spend the day with Josie and her daughters and their families for dinner and such. I get there and learn that Santa somehow had a direct line to Nintendo and brought both families Wii's this year, and when I mentioned I owned one, guess who got to go downstairs and be the P2/3/4 while they were learning the games? Besides that, I did also help get the remote control helicopters together, so they were enjoying that. All the girls got webkins this year and immediately ran off to register them, but of course, every other kid and their mother across the US was trying to do the same thing, so there was some frustration since that website was slow.
Dinner was excellent, there was ham, a turkey casserole, a veggie dish that I need to get the recipe for, and a choice of peanut butter, chocolate, or pumpkin pie. Believe me when I say that I didn't starve this whole weekend. Of course the afternoon was spent with the kids all over the place playing with toys, and getting pictures taken. The cutest story was related to me by Josie, she had gone upstairs and my leather jacket was hanging up nearby one of the girl's rooms, and Josie asked who it belonged to, Michelle responded "That's Uncle Mike's, but he's really my cousin" So apparently I've been nicknamed Uncle-Cousin Mike. What can I say, they're family, and I give points for creativity in how I'm related.
I got home and fired up the webcam to open up presents with my own folks. This year I received some fiestaware dishes, a keychain that counts down when Bush is out of office, good sandals, a very nice shirt, a Nintendo DS stylus pen pack, and some home DVD's. From me my mom got Hairspray on DVD, my dad got a Costco membership, one bro got Contra 4 for DS, and the other bro got some Hot Wheels so he has something to do when he needs a study break. We all will enjoy the gifts we got. I spent the rest of the evening watching some episodes of Ghost in the Shell before heading to bed, because unlike many folks in the office, I did not take the whole week off :-P
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