I had a wonderful Christmas this year.

It started out with our traditional family breakfast; I cooked the pancakes while my dad did the bacon, my mother the potatoes, and my sister the biscuits and gravy. My brothers still slept. We opened presents after cleaning up – I love being able to watch my family open what I had gotten for them. Some of my favorite gifts to them: a new pair of pajamas for my mom (who had been eyeing them at the store but didn’t want to spend money on herself) and a pillow, a Star Wars holiday sweater T-shirt (it’s all in the irony) for my eldest brother, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask for my (24 year old) brother (he loved it, btw), a new sweater for my dad (who never shops for himself so only gets new clothes for Christmas and his birthday), and my sister these sheets she really likes for her bed (not even honestly sure what they are called). I think my favorite though, is what I got for my best friend. I took a map and painted on it in dark blue, “Not all those who wander are lost.” We traveled to Europe a couple years ago together and both share the same love for travel. I showed her the map but I’m still waiting on the frame in the mail.

I think I outdid – and outspent – myself this year. It was a lot of fun.

I received wonderful gifts as well: The Mazerunner Trilogy from my brother, several Disney movies that were missing from my collection, a new sweater, scarves from my sister, the Legend Trilogy from my aunt, and some money from my grandpa to help pay for school.And of course various yummy candies. I also got this really cute sock monkey mug (I have a thing for sock monkeys) from my friend Jacqueline and The Princess Bride book from my friend Becky.

Ryan beat me this year – I normally wrap his present a million times so it takes half an hour to open, but I was lazy this year and didn’t do anything. Last year I had bought him a maze box that you have to solve to find what’s inside. I forgot to shake it up though, so it only took him a second to open it. He gave it back to me this year with a series of clues that I had to search for around the house. After about thirty seconds, I gave up and went to the garage to get a sledge hammer. One whack later and it was open. I will give it to him, it was all very clever. It took a while, but it was worth it for the Disney movie I found at the end.

Normally after that, we all just laze around in this sort of post-Christmas coma, but somehow Andrew convinced me a few days before to go meet his family and spend Christmas with them. So I showered and tried to look as best I could. I brought my presents over to his house and we did presents there. Since everything in our relationship for some reason is a competition (probably because we are both still 5-year-olds) he definitely won this year. He got me this beautiful jewelry set with a white sapphire heart set in sterling silver. It came with matching earrings and a necklace. :love: I haven’t taken the ring off yet! It is a bit big, so I’m going to have to take it somewhere to get it resized, and hopefully for an affordable price.

His family lives about forty-five minutes away, so we drove in his old crappy car (which I prayed the entire way wouldn’t explode). He’s selling it to his sister, but it needs a lot of work so his mom’s boyfriend, who lives down there, was going to try and work on it. His mom and sister came in his new car – which is very nice. I giggle almost every time I get in because I feel like I have a really hot, really rich boyfriend. I love him all the same though, even if he’s not super rich and just in debt.

It was just his aunt’s family there so there wasn’t a lot of new people I had to meet, thank heavens. We had dinner and afterwards played a game called “Pass the Popcorn.” It’s a movie game, where you guess what movie it is based on actors or quotes, or you guess the actor by movies. It was fun, but Andrew’s mom is a huge movie buff so she easily creamed us all. Overall, it wasn’t too awkward even though I was nervous to meet them. I’m just glad it’s over with. O.O

After driving back, Andrew came over for a little while to open the gifts my parents got him and to hang out. I stuffed my face with so many cookies, and I don’t have a single regret. It was wonderful to be with those that I love and to all celebrate the birth of Christ together. I’m just a little sad it’s all over!