The Holidays - A Break?

The Holidays are so damn busy. I went to visit the family in my hometown for six days and I feel like I was there for only three. Too bad it doesn't go by that quickly when I'm at work.

I flew out on Tuesday and was lucky enough to be on the only flight that wasn't canceled that day. My luggage wasn't as lucky but it only took an extra day to get it. Oh well. On Christmas eve my Mother's side of the family meets at my Grandmother's house where we eat a meal of Mexican food and take a twenty minute break to open gifts. I somehow got out of the clean up crew this year because I was busy upstairs wrapping the gifts for my parents. It isn't that difficult because there are only ten of us so I don't feel bad. I think we were out of there by eight.

Christmas morning is the best. It's just me, my parents, and my brother. Mom didn't feel like pulling the fake tree out of the attic this year which is fine with us. After we moved away she bought a very modern fake tree and she leaves all the decorations on, throws a big bag over it, and stores it that way. We don't really care if there is a tree or not as long as we have champagne. We drink mimosas and eat quiche while opening gifts and this year Cold Case Files was on TV. That gives the room ambiance while we thank each other for whatever we got.

I got some really fantastic gifts. One of which was a photo shoot with Teresa at Wiz of Oz Photography. I never got out of the dress up stage of life so this was the most fun I could imagine having. I told Teresa I was up for whatever since I didn't have any intention of using the photos for something specific. She put me in this black dress she found at Goodwill and the next thing I know I have a new header for my blog! I have seen about four of the photos so far and will get the rest in a couple months. Here is one of my favorites.


Later Christmas day we usually celebrate with my Dad's side of the family but all my cousins got married and started having babies so it is harder to get together. We went to visit my grandparents and saw a few relatives. My aunt's cooky boyfriend never even came into the house to say hello to anyone. He hid outside. We were not offended or anything but it was pretty funny. Christmas night we always spent tearing down all the decorations during my childhood. Since there weren't any this year we just cooked a huge meal. That was a pleasant change. While the rest of my family tried to digest and started passing out, I went out with an old friend for a drink. This was the only time I bothered to do that this year. The longer I'm gone the more I lose touch.

Friday night we went to a dueling piano bar. It was fun but the guys playing sort of sucked. Saturday my grandmother helped me put black streaks in my hair. She is a good sport. That evening we had dinner with her and her boyfriend.

My flight to Chicago was canceled due to Mechanical problems and they told me I couldn't get on another one until Tuesday. That isn't okay. I had to wake my brother up (he only had three hours of sleep) and ask him to drive me to Chicago right away. He lives in Chicago so this isn't that big of a deal. He just wasn't planning to leave for another five or six hours. Luckily I made a flight out of Chicago and was able to get home sweet home last night.

That brings us to date. Next I will tell you about my new nephew.