Entry Forty Eight: Christmas Break

Christmas day is coming to a close now, its 11:14. This winter break has been absolutely wonderful, I couldn't have ever asked for anything better!  I had Christmas eve with my father as usual, he got me what was on my list - jumper cables for my car, a simple dvd player, and Saving Private Ryan. Then instead of having Christmas with mother on Christmas day we also celebrated that on Christmas Eve too. She got me everything I really wanted, and then some! I received a bottle of Cologne, a stick of luxury deodorant, Battle Field 3, and a Guitar stand! She even threw in a nice shirt from Abercrombie And Finch!  There I sat at both of my grandparents houses on the same day at different times in awe of the celebration and cheer we were all experiencing. It was the first year that I put together a wish list online and it worked out so well!

We switched it up this year because that night I drove four hours up to Templton to spend Christmas day with family I almost never see! The drive was so relaxing and needed. I left around 9:30 and was out of La by about 10:25. I hit Santa Barbara around 11:00. From there it was a clean shoot, I only shared the road with one other car for some of the drive and then he got off and someone replaced him. The last 45minutes of driving was dead silent and extremely relaxing, it felt like I was driving in the great American plains. I arrived at exactly 1:15 as perfectly planned and then was greeted by my younger cousin. We unloaded all my stuff and snuck back inside to go to bed. I stayed in his room along with my other cousin Greg (his brother) who was also sleeping on the floor.

The next morning we woke up and I (as unusual) started playing Battle Field 3 on his Xbox360. That lasted for about an hour until the rest of the family arose. After a shower and some bagels we all headed off to Church. It was a much smaller church than I was used to but still nice. It was probably the first time I spent Christmas morning at Church in two years. We then returned home and had breakfast which was served by my aunt.

After breakfast came "Christmas"! We all huddled in the family room and prepared for surprise. I thought it was really cool watching my cousins open up their gifts and see this family experience the season of giving. At my house we do things a little different - we don't have a real tree so seeing one here brought back some good childhood memories. We all received really cool stuff!!! David got a new Electric Guitar so he can start participating more in his worship group at Church. Amy got a new Xbox360 so she wouldn't have use Davids anymore. Alicia got a new ipad2. James got some really nice shirts. Greg got a european jacket. I got two nice shirts and a Emergency Bag for my car. They were great gifts! Mine were totally unexpected.

I'll be up here until Friday. OH! Something I completely forgot to mention, I also passed all my classes this semester at school which means I will be returning after break. This was the small taste of freedom I needed to hear. I thought that I was being damned to failure and another quest for meaning, purpose, or something to just fill my time. Words can not describe how happy it makes me.