A New Christmas "Tradition"

Every year on Christmas Eve we do the same thing. It's something I look forward to and have always enjoyed. As kids we'll all gather into one bedroom and make beds wherever we can find a spot. My mom will read us her favorite Christmas stories and then we'll watch a movie and attempt to stay up long enough to hear Santa. And then we'll wake up as early as we possibly can to open presents before promptly taking a nap.

Even now that we're older (the youngest is thirteen), we still do this. This year, however, was the time for change. We moved so we weren't exactly sure which room we should sleep in. Whitney married Quint and we weren't exactly sure how it was going to work with us all in the same room.

Mitchell and I decided we still wanted to do this. We moved his mattress into the TV room and then Julia moved hers as well. Whitney and Quint stayed to watch the movie with us and then headed off to their own room.

And here is where we made the mistake. We let Spencer decide which Christmas movie we would watch. Okay, maybe it isn't completely his fault. The good classic Christmas movies we have are still lost  from the move...hopefully we find them by next year.

Anyway, he decided on this super short, super cheesy version of The Nutcracker. It wasn't even five minutes into the movie before we devised a plan.

If you've seen this movie you know what I'm talking about. The kids are dressed in their best clothes as they open Christmas presents. This is weird to me. We've always been in our PJs with our hair a mess and our eyes barely open. If you know us you can probably guess what is about to happen.

We decided to surprise our parents and wake up slightly earlier so we could dress in our Sunday Best. We woke up, put on make-up, did our hair, all that fancy stuff. Julia and I even put on our prom dresses! The boys obviously weren't as excited about it as the girls. Spencer put on shorts, a yellow polo shirt and a zip-up tie. Mitchell put on a suit jacket over top of his pajamas. Quint put on actual clothes but still looked nice.

When my dad saw us he didn't seem fazed at all. I guess that by now he's gotten used to us. My mom though, she was shocked. She just looked us and said "What are you guys doing?" and then she realized she could laugh about it.

As fun as it was, I don't think it will continue. I don't really want to wake up early to curl my hair and put on my prom dress before sitting on the floor to open presents.

Let me just say this - I LOVE MY FAMILY! :D

The Future... ooooh.....

I started unpacking my room today. Finally.

I came across something that literally made me burst out laughing in my lonely room.

It's a list Alora and I came up with a while ago. I'm not even sure when we made it, but I believe it was some time after watching Say Anything with the wonderful John Cusack.

Here is the list:

Future Dating Companion Checklist 

1. Must believe I am real - NOT imaginary/Can't make fun of Alora's middle name.
2. Can not be judgmental of our "traditions" - possibly even participate in them. :)
3. Alora can NOT hate him! And he can't hate her.
4. He has to be friends with Alora's boy - (or at least get along with him really well).
5. Can't let me walk on glass.
6. Must have at least a small love towards dinosaurs.
7. He has to be willing to dance with me.
8. Must like 80's movies.
9. Must love ball brownies! ;)
10. Can't make fun of my hiccups or Alora's sneezes.


Yep. That's the list. I should probably take it with me when I go back to school. And then I could maybe possibly even use it. ;)

Phillip the Stegosaurus :)

Chelsea and I sometimes like to avoid going to sleep.

We'll eat grilled cheese instead.

Or, sometimes we'll go to the lobby and do nothing productive whatsoever. This is what we did last night. As soon as we sat down I began telling her a story about a sad stegosaurus named Phillip. If you're interested in hearing the story ask me, maybe I can recreate it for you. Maybe. My stories are often a one time thing. ;)

Anyway. This beautiful story had a moral. The moral of the story is that we need to be happy with who we are and the things we can do.

I've noticed that in my life I spend a lot of time comparing myself to those around me. I'm down on myself the majority of the time. I don't like this. It's hard feeling like I'm not good enough and never will be.

Mostly, I don't enjoy having a negative attitude.

I realized that the problem here is jealousy. My new goal in life is to quit being jealous of those around me. Because after all, I'm pretty neat too. :)