Christmas Wrap-up

This holiday season has been interesting. I'll start with Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve

I woke up at 7:00 AM to the ringing of my alarm clock. I set it for 7 so that I could shower before me and Dad went to get the cannoli for Christmas Day breakfast. When we got to the bakery, it was around 9:00, and they didn't open until 9:30, so we had to attempt other errands for the half hour. I say 'attempt' because we weren't successful. We stopped at Winners to look for an ornament for Mom, but they weren't open, so we tried Shoppers Drug Mart because Dad wanted to get Mom a Terry's Chocolate Orange for her stocking, but they were cleaned out of the milk chocolate and white chocolate ones. We didn't get her a dark chocolate one because she isn't keen on dark chocolate unless it's mild dark chocolate.

Now that I think about it, we should've seen if the Dutch imports shop in the little shopping mall was still open for business, because they carry a different brand of the chocolate oranges. That mall's being demolished, though, because a SmartCentre is going in.

We did some last-minute cleaning, and then after we had our Harvey's hamburgers I put on It's a Wonderful Life. Katie and Dan got in at around 9:30 PM, and me and Dad helped them haul stuff out of the trunk of Katie's car (she bought a used Toyota recently) because not only did she have her gifts to us, but she also had Dan's family's gifts to him and Katie.

Christmas Day

I can't remember when I eventually got out of bed. I just remember not wanting to get up. I felt kinda sad that morning. Lately I've been feeling sad about holidays. I guess that's why I listen to so many Christmas songs and watch so many Christmas movies - because I'm trying to distract myself from the future and cheer myself up.

It wound up being a great Christmas morning. We ate out cannoli first - Dan gave me the other mini Yule Log, which was nice of him. Normally I think we would open presents first and then eat, so it felt a little odd. And then Katie was like, "Dan, finish your cannoli so that I can give you your stocking!" It was cute. And we put on Bell TV's Yule Log channel, but we muted it so that we could put the stereo on and listen to the CBC.

So, in my stocking, I got:

A bag of red licorice allsorts (because I'm not crazy about black licorice much)
Two Sherbet Fountains
Three little bags of British candy - one of Jelly Babies (which I ate this afternoon), one of Bursting Bottles, and one of Fruit Gems (?)
Two trios of nail polish
A pouch of lip balms
A bottle of anti-frizz hair serum
Two pairs of tights
A nail buffer
A marzipan pig
A bag of coconut truffles (I ate a few)
A bag of toffees
Mini bottles of shampoo and conditioner

From Katie and Dan, I got:

A Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll
Bookends
A CD holder that matches the bookends
Leonard Cohen's first CD

From my parents, I got:

16" circular needles
Woolwash
A pink Namaste bag!!!!
Fleecy pajamas
A fleecy houndstooth-print robe
A sleep shirt
The soundtrack from Juno
Bob Dylan's Christmas album
A self-healing rotary cutting mat
A rotary cutter

After we finished unwrapping gifts, Katie and Dan drove down to Nathan's place to pick up him and Steph (I've been calling them Kurt and Courtney ;p). Nathan actually like the hamburger patty press thing I gave him, because he makes burgers a lot, from what he told us. He and Steph gave me a white shortie fleece robe with skulls on it in different colours - kinda pop art-y. I like it.

I freaked out when I was getting ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's, because I couldn't fit into my pantyhose, and then in a fit of rage I whacked my heel on the underside of my bed and it started bleeding, so Katie came down to see if I was okay, and then got some peroxide and a bandage for my heel and helped me with my clothes. I wound up wearing my black eyelet kneesocks instead of pantyhose, because kneesocks are idiot-proof and look flattering.

I went with Katie and Dan in their car to Grandma and Grandpa's place, and Dad took the food first and then picked Mom up from the house. When I got there, Patti's friend Lorraine was there, talking to Grandma (thankfully, she didn't stay for dinner - probably because Patti wasn't there). Me and Grandma talked a little bit, and then Uncle Brent, Justin and Breanne arrived. Not long after that, Mom arrived. And then Grandma asked us to change the tablecloth on the table in the living room because Grandpa had put down a beige-coloured one with grapes on it, and she preferred the solid white tablecloth. It was funny.

Once everybody was sitting in the living room, Grandpa started handing out gifts. I got two books off my list (Terrier by Tamora Pierce and Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr), a clock radio (which I didn't think I needed, because I have my wind-up alarm clock, but I like it and will probably use it) and a hoodie from Aeropostale. Grandpa even asked me to try it on to make sure it fitted okay, and it did. Breanne and Justin got Aeropostale stuff, too. At first, Breanne told Grandpa that her stuff wouldn't fit, but she tried it on and it fit well. She really liked the green and purple shirt she got. Katie, Uncle Brent and Mom all got these Magic Bullet blenders, Dan got a Transformers DVD, and Dad got a bottle of Jack Daniel's and a case of Dr Pepper - which was really funny, because it's Dad's new favourite drink, and he keeps telling people about it. Justin got a book off his list also, and Katie got the Wilton cake decorating course kit she asked for. She's pretty happy about that kit :)

Dinner wasn't as pleasant. I was at the table in the living room with Katie, Dan, Breanne and Uncle Brent. Brent was being a complete ass, bitching at Breanne about irrelevant things. He wanted her to put on her button-down shirt that she had with her, even though it was roasting in the living room (it got so warm that Grandpa asked people to open the front door for a few minutes). And he even had the nerve to tell her, "Go to your mother's." Now, Breanne was being a little bit of a madam, but she would be keeping to herself and eating dinner and Brent would pick fights with her. It pissed me off immensely. If I wasn't trapped between Dan and the Christmas tree, I would've left the table, I was that mad.

Dessert was a little more civil. I ate my trifle like a jackhammer, though, because I was so mad at Brent, and when I went to grab some cookies and squares from the platter, I sat at the kitchen table with Mom, Grandma, Grandpa and Jack instead. After dessert, we hung around while Brent, Breanne and Justin were leaving (Brent forgot his laundry and hair gel from when he used Grandma and Grandpa's shower 'cause his cistern was empty at home, and he was supposed to take the raw veggies and dip with him, but forgot that too, so Katie grabbed it all and put it in her car).

Boxing Day

I ate a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. As usual, after I eat, somebody offers to pick up take-out. In this case, it was Katie offering to pick up breakfast from McDonald's. She asked me if I wanted anything, though, which was nice, so I asked for hotcakes. She asked me if I wanted a hashbrown patty, too, so I said yes. I like McDonald's hotcakes. There was no butter in the bag, but that was fine. I just ate them plain.

Katie picked up Nathan at around 1:00. Steph didn't come because she wasn't feeling well, apparently - I'll believe it when I see it. Hey, I wonder if she was... never mind. Not gonna say it. Bad, bad taste.

Anyway. I put on jeans and my red shirt with 'I'm sorry. My fault. I forgot you were an idiot.' printed on it in white. It's another gem from Giant Tiger. I took Blood and Chocolate with me in case I got bored (Mom thought it was rude, but too bad). I managed to read a page, or almost a page, on the way. It was hard to read in the van because it isn't as smooth a ride as the Honda, so my book kept wobbling. It was really soggy outside, but a pretty kind of soggy. The natural light was good for reading, and I wish I'd taken my camera with me 'cause the scenery was really pretty. I saw horses. And cattle. Or maybe they were bulls. I think they were cows, though. But the sky itself was really pretty - very dark and overcast with a little stripe of light on the horizon. It would've been a great shot to use for a book cover for my NaNoWriMo '09 novel.

Brent was on his best behavior. I think it was because Heather (his girlfriend) and her kids were there, and Breanne and Justin were at their mom's. If Breanne had been there, he may have even been civil to her, just because of Heather being there and him wanting to impress her. Yeah, Brent, you're sooo Father of the Year. Pfft.

We had ham, green beans, scalloped potatoes (which were really good), sweet potatoes (which were mediocre in comparison to Mom's sweet potato souffle that she made for Christmas Day dinner. That, and Patti brought them.), lasagna (which was soupy and weird - another Patti contribution) corn, and salad. I think my favourite was the scalloped potatoes. It looked like there was onion in them, which was neat.

Heather's girls are adorable. I met Tegan when we went out for Chinese food, but I hadn't met Jenasee until yesterday. Tegan really likes Katie and Dan. Poor Dan became a set of playground monkey bars! ;P

Today

Mom whacked together a blueberry French toast casserole for breakfast last night and baked it off today. It's pretty good. Katie and Dan went out to do some shopping at various places. I'm not sure if they're home yet. This post has taken me a long time to write because Dad has called me down several times to dry dishes.

I'm drinking ginger ale.

I ate the packet of jelly babies that I got in my stocking.

That is all.

Why, no, I'm not stressed! ;)

Did you catch the sarcasm in that? lols.

Yes, I'm still stressed out about Christmas. I'm a little on edge about this whole thing. I feel like I'm waiting for something to go horribly wrong.

All I have to do now is wrap Mom's and Katie's presents. I have to find a box for Katie's though.

Four days until Christmas. Oh dear.

Grease and scarf knitting

Mom and Dad were being jerks because of the bass level on the stereo, so I came upstairs and turned on my computer and the little TV. Our satellite TV provider is giving everyone a free preview of AMC until the 31st, and they're playing Grease, so I'm watching that :D

It's making me want to knit my own Pink Ladies' jacket...

So I'm trying to finish up my Ravenclaw scarf to make room for more projects for when the next term on HPKCHC starts. I have the scarf in a drawer on top of my library book (the first Vampire Diaries omnibus - I probably won't finish it for when it's due back) and CDs, and I have a huge project bag in my wardrobe. I can probably lighten the amount of project in my bag if I take my kerchief shawl out and weave the ends in, and if I take out the small zippered bag (which my Ravenclaw scarf might fit into) and my Calorimetry (which needs a button).

I also have the mandrake blanket in a grocery bag, the bobble pillow in a cloth bag, the baby sweater in another cloth bag, and the mobius wrap in my fair trade tote...

Yeah, it's a lot. I know for sure that I want to frog the Thick & Quick vest because it's way too heavy on my shoulders. It's kinda fugly anyway ;) I wouldn't want to wish something that bad on anybody.

I also want to finish my Irish Hiking Scarf...

I might make socks for the Ravelympics. I probably already mentioned that yesterday... lol! And I have a bag that socks could easily fit into - my mom used to use it for making socks before she gave it to me. I just have to clean out the yarn scraps that are in it. Actually, if I have a small project on the go for the first month of the new HPKCHC term, I can use it for that, too.

So, I picked out one of the nougat things that Mom bought and wrapped it for Dan for Christmas. I hope he likes it. I just have to wrap Katie's present and Mom's present, but Mom told me not to wrap hers' until Christmas Eve because she doesn't want to accidentally guess what it is. Knowing Dad, though, he'll probably wait until Christmas Eve to wrap everything for Mom anyway! lol. He's a goof like that.

DUDE. I just had an idea for a Pink Ladies jacket. I could use the mens' jacket pattern from the premiere issue of Knit.1 and just use pink chunky yarn or pink worsted doubled. I have pink worsted, but it's more of a dark-ish rose pink, not a bright, bubblegum pink. Or I can just find a pattern that uses worsted. And then I could embroider the 'Pink Ladies' think on the back. I think embroidering would look better than duplicate stitch. Hmm...

I should reserve those fashion design books from the library that I have on my booklist thing. The library's site has this 'bookbag' thing - well, they don't really call it a 'bookbag' anymore, they just call it the 'list', but it's so that you can keep track of items you want to reserve later. Mine is over 90 items long, lol ;P Anyway, I have a couple of fashion design books on my list, so I might reserve them soonish.

Okay. This is too freaky. Christmas is five days away. That means on Tuesday I'm going to the library. Thursday I'm going with my dad to the bakery to pick up Christmas Day breakfast. And Friday is Christmas Day. Weeeeiirrrrdddd.

The year's going by too fast. It's not fair.

6 days

It's six days until Christmas.

So, I've decided to give Dan one of the nougat things that Mom bought. They seem like good quality stuff. I'll probably wrap it tonight, maybe while watching The Family Stone. From the library, of course. The DVDs are all overdue now. I might be going to the library today, but now I'm wondering if we should just wait until Tuesday, so that we can have an extra couple of days to watch the DVDs.

I finished Haibane Renmei #1 last night. It was brilliant. I wish the library had the second volume. Hmm, I should check the Chapters Indigo site.

I have to finish some projects before the next term of the House Cup, 'cause I'm worried about not having enough room for projects. I've been working on the mandrake blanket for the cat, but that makes my arms so sore, so maybe I'll work on my house scarf from now on. Or my Irish Hiking Scarf. I like working on the blanket, though...

That reminds me, the Ravelympics are going to be part of the House Cup this term as our Quidditch. Last year it was charity knitting, and this year it's the Ravelympics. I might do Sock Hockey, since I've never made socks before. But I'm worried about not finishing a pair of socks in the two weeks of the Olympics, so maybe I'll do Scarf Super-G instead. Or a hat. I can't remember what the hat event is called...

9 days 'til Christmas...

...And I haven't gotten anything for Dan yet. eep! Mom says we can shop for him Friday morning, because Dad doesn't have work that day.

I went shopping with Dad on Monday, because we needed to buy stuff for Mom. I won't say what we got for her (my blog is linked to my Ravelry page, and though she doesn't snoop, I don't want her accidentally stumbling upon this!), but I will say that we had a good laugh and went out for lunch afterwards at Kelsey's. I had a bacon cheeseburger, which was really good. I had gravy with my fries, and that was good, too. Not overly salty like at Jack Astor's.

I got Nathan a hamburger patty maker thing, and I got Steph a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate squares. I didn't know what else to get him because Nathan was being so difficult. He wanted Warhammer stuff and 'anything nerd or video game related, you know what I like'. Idiot.

Funny thing happened yesterday. I had put bold-point Sharpies on my Christmas list, so Grandpa called yesterday to ask what kind I would like. Who knew that he could be somewhat considerate?

Last night I was barely tired, so I got out the library's copy of the first Vampire Diaries omnibus and read about a page. Mouse was chasing a mouse, so I read while kitty was catching supper. What pissed me off was that Smiles heard her and kept barking. She was so loud that Mom had to yell at her. This was at around ten minutes to two in the morning.

I've done all my shopping except for Dan, and all my wrapping except for Mom and Dan. I might get Dan a scarf from Winners, because I don't have time to knit him one. Unless I make him a neckwarmer. But I'd rather not endure the stress of knitting for someone. The Clapotis has been stressful enough. Not that I wouldn't knit for Dan, it's just too late to do that.

It's cold, man

It's bloody freezing here, but I don't mind too much because it is the tenth of December, after all.

Katie's supposed to be coming up on Sunday. Or Monday. I can't remember, but she's only staying a day because she's buying a car with some money from Angela (my dad's mother - I refuse to call her my grandmother for several reasons...). I'm probably going to be helping take bake sale orders with the other youth group members. Or maybe I'll duck out after church. Or maybe I just won't go at all.

Now Mom's on the phone with Grandpa. Oh yay.

Anyways, I'm going Christmas shopping with Dad on Monday, so that should be fun. I imagine we're going as early as possible, 'cause if we get there at around nine-ish, nobody has been spraying perfume yet. After about eleven o'clock, people come to the perfume counter and start a-sprayin', and Dad starts sneezing really badly if he gets a whiff of too much or too many perfume(s). We also beat the midday rush of mad people if we hit the mall at around nine.

I e-mailed Nathan again, asking him what the hell he wants for Christmas. Hopefully he'll reply this time. According to Katie, he wants 'Warhammer stuff'. Seriously? 'Warhammer stuff'? And where the hell would I find this stuff? And how much does it cost? I'm probably getting him a holiday scratch ticket pack, a gift card, or a pair of gloves.

Boo, rain :(

Normally I don't boo rain, but this rain is melting the snow, so boo! ;P

Christmas dinner is now sorted out, but I'm not happy with what's happening: Mom's cooking two turkeys and she and Katie are bringing side dishes. Why? Because Grandpa guilted everybody into making a decision about Christmas Day so that it got planned. The jerk.

I probably won't get Grandma's Clapotis done in time. I made a mistake in the pattern, and haven't tried fixing it for a couple of days. I may just ignore it until after Christmas and give it to her for Easter.

Youth group wasn't too terrible. There were some new folks there: Maya, Lana and Sooneah - I think that's how her name is spelled; I'm not entirely sure. I've actually seen Maya and Lana at the church before - Lana I saw at the Passover Sedar a few years ago, and Maya I saw at the flower communion service a few years ago, because she and her brother were helping me and Nathan with the flowers.

I also had a weird dream that I was a volunteer dental hygienist.