A Wonderful Christmas

Well, tomorrow morning I head back to Orlando. I'm sad to have to leave my family, but I'm also ready to head back to some warmer weather. I need to head to the airport around 5am. At midnight, I can print my boarding pass, so I'm trying to kill some time by updating my blog.

Once again, I had a really nice Christmas. I arrived in Detroit Metro Airport around 1am (an hour later than I was scheduled). I went to bed as soon as I got home.

When I woke up Christmas Eve morning, I was thrilled to see about 4-6 inches of crisp, clean, white snow on the ground in the backyard. It sparkled in the morning sunshine (yes, the sun was actually shining). I spent most of the day wrapping all of my Christmas gifts. Mike & Sonia arrived around 5:00. At 7, we went to church. It was a very beautiful service. After church, we went next door to Grandpa's house for the annual Cook Family Christmas. All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were there. My cousin Ryan got me a really nice red leather mini backpack style purse. I scored points with Joel by getting him something that he actually liked and wanted (a book on how to draw superheroes). Mike, the comedian of the family, was on once again with his witty remarks. One such example (you really needed to be there to get the full effect): Ryan walked into the room with a trash bag for all the wrapping paper. Mike remarked, "now all you need is an orange jumpsuit and cornrolls." Like I said, you really needed to be there.

On Christmas morning, we opened presents with my immediate family. Sam & Kristie gave me a camel colored purse and inside was a scarf and a pair of sunglasses. Mike & Sonia got me Season 7 of "Friends" DVDs. Mom & Dad got me the game "Scene It: Disney Edition." And from "Santa" (aka Mom & Dad), I got a Bose Wave Radio and a portable DVD player. Sam & Kristie got Mike & Sonia the regular edition of "Scene It." Mike is the trivia master. His brain is just a sponge for useless knowledge. It took a team of four people to bring him down. Later that day, the Schroeders (minus Heidi & her family) came over for dinner. We also continued our Christmas tradition of watching "Claymation Christmas." For those of you that don't know, it is a half-hour clay animated special that we had taped off the tv many years ago. A while back, we lost that tape and it no longer aired on tv. We went several years without watching it until a few years ago when Andy found it on VHS. Now we watch it every Christmas.

On sunday, I didn't exactly make it to church (even though I was supposed drive Grandpa). I had forgotten that there was only once service and that it was earlier than normal. Mom & Dad weren't around because Dad had a dr. appointement. When I did get up, we all met at the Cracker Barrel for brunch. Later that day, my mom & I went with Pam Schroeder to see "Spanglish." This was a very good film and I highly reccommend it. It is definitely a good mother-daughter movie.

I didn't do a whole lot on Monday. My mom & I went to to post office to ship my Bose radio (it wouldn't fit in my bags) and my birthday present (which I'm not allowed to open until my actual birthday - which is a week from today). In the evening, Mom, Dad, and I went over to Sam's place. Dad helped him hang crown molding on his kitchen cabinets while my mom and I sat in his newly finished basement and watched tv. I also picked up some champagne for my New Year's Eve party this weekend. When Sam & Dad finished, we went to Applebee's for dinner. I chipped in with a gift card that I had received (last Christmas).

Today, the Kushnirs came up for a visit. I made some tacos for lunch (it's one of the few things that I know how to make). It was so nice to see them especially since nowadays, I only see them once, maybe twice, a year. My half brothers and sister have grown so much. Paul is getting married! Michelle is driving! Christopher has just grown like a tree and I barely recognized him! This means that I'm getting older, too. I'm going to be 26 years old in a week. I can hardly believe it. After the Kushnirs left, we went to Dundee, to watch Ryan play basketball. It was so much fun (even though they lost). I hadn't seen Ryan play since grade school. He had 16 assists. After the game, we all went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. Since I had tacos for lunch, I wasn't really in the mood for Mexican food again, but I had a really good bowl of chili con carne (that's "chili with meat"). It had the perfect amount of spiciness with lots of cheese.

Now we are to the present. I still have 20 minutes until midnight. I'm just going to have to surf the web until I can check in for my flight.