Christmas Eve

"Walking with you in a winter snow,

Kissing underneath the mistletoe,

People smiling everywhere we go,

It's Christmas Eve and they can see we're in love...

Oh, you make the season bright

With the lights reflecting in your eyes

All my dreams are coming true tonight

It's Christmas Eve..."

~Celine Dion~

I can't believe Christmas has already come and passed us once again! Sometimes after a big event, it takes me awhile to really collect my thoughts, but I figured I'd just dive right into this one. 

Well, the night before Christmas Eve, I started feeling really sick, while watching the Christmas episode of Glee and wrapping presents, so I tried to lay down a bit and said a prayer that I wouldn't actually get sick. Within just a few minutes I started feeling SO much better; I know it was a total God thing, because every other time when it hits I get sick, and it's always around the holidays lately. I ended up just staying up to watch a few more Christmas episodes of Full House, Growing Pains and The Vampire Diaries. I also passed the time by taking pictures with this new camera app I got, because I was just having way too much fun. 

The next morning was obviously Christmas Eve, and I was not feeling well, so I woke up much earlier than I usually do. I had some breakfast, took medicine and climbed back in bed to watch Boy Meets World. It was another Christmas show, so I was excited. I took the morning pretty easy, just sort of hanging out, watching TV and taking pictures of our Christmas decorations since it was one of the big days and they won't be up for much longer. 

Awhile later, my mom and I decided to bake our goodies for Christmas dinner the next day! It has been our tradition the past six or seven years to make Faith Hill's Coca-Cola cake, so I always look forward to that. I was really starting to get loopy after not getting much sleep, so I was walking around the house saying some pretty hilarious things, I must say. We turned on a couple Christmas movies while we worked and laughed A LOT. I think that was probably one of the smoothest times we've ever been in the kitchen together before. It was really nice. We even made a different flavor of the traditional jello that my grandma used to make for Thanksgiving every year. I had a lot of fun and realized I'd like to get into the whole baking thing. I say that all the time, but maybe in 2013 I'll actually get around to experimenting more. Oh, and there were extra marshmallows, so I decided to try the whole "chubby bunny" thing and felt really sick after that, but it was totally worth it. My mom tried it too and blamed me for it when she felt sick. I did not even tell her to, she voluntarily did it...sooo....

We finished baking and straightening things up around 4 or so, and I decided to watch The Office's Classy Christmas part one and two again. I even heard my mom chuckling a few times, so I think eventually she'll come around to liking it. We shall see! After those came to an end, it was time to start getting ready. I took a shower, got spiffied up, and pretty soon my dad was home from work. I was keeping myself entertained by watching all of the Friends episodes of Christmas. Not long after, it was time to meet my aunts and uncle for dinner, but we were all still running around getting last minute things together and I ended up opening a present right before we were walking out, since it's a tradition. It was a sweater from American Eagle which I had loved when I looked at it awhile back, and planned on wearing the next day! 

We jumped in the car and had to stop by CVS, then made our way to Mexicali. I'm pretty sure the type of food they serve can go unsaid here. My aunt was already there, and from the looks of the parking lot, it was PACKED. She said it was going to be about an hour and a half wait, so we hesitated on whether we were going to stay or try somewhere else. We ultimately decided to wait it out, but it was extremely long. We ran into some family friends and talked to them for a few minutes, then just passed the rest of the time by talking to one another.

We sat down to eat close to 7, and I couldn't have been more excited unless John Krasinski or Steve Carell themselves had showed up to the restaurant. I need to have food in my system probably a lot more than the average person, because I start getting low blood sugar and I'm just not pleasant to be around (even more than usual). When I don't have food and I need, I almost start getting the shakes and it was starting to get to that point. But, as soon as the chips came, we pretty much devoured them every time. The food was amazing as always, and the conversation and company was even better. We talked about the X Factor for a bit and one of my aunt's mentioned that she had watched an episode of The Office earlier and that it is the stupidest show. My other aunt and uncle agreed with her, and that it's probably a show the under 30 crowd gets. Possibly...Or they just don't get the humor, not everyone does, because it is a little different. Oh well, I think it's fantastic! 

By the time we finished eating, we had to hurry home, because (long story short), my uncle was only going to have a little time to visit. He came over for a few minutes and we caught up with him, then he had to leave to pick my aunt up from work once my cousin and her boyfriend got here. They stayed for a couple hours; we opened some presents and watched this special on the White House Christmas traditions, which was really interesting actually. We talked some, laughed some, and took pictures. 

Brooke and Max had to visit his family for a big dinner at his parents' house, so they left, and my parents, aunt and I had planned on going to a candlelight service at my grandparents' church, but when it came down to it, we were all kind of falling asleep and it's quite a drive up there, so we decided not to. I wish it would've worked out, because I've enjoyed going to church the past couple years on Christmas Eve, but there's always next year. 

We opened presents, and I ended up getting a lot of really cool vintage items from my aunt! It makes me feel like a hipster, and I just really love antiques anyway, so there's that. I love the stories that they tell and how much they've been through. We all played with our gifts a bit, then ended up watching The Nanny. I forget how much I love that show after I haven't watched for awhile, but it's just one of those classics that I always tend to go back too. They don't make sitcoms like they used to, which is something we definitely commented on. 

It was a really nice night altogether and those are the moments I cherish most. Christmas Eve has changed for our family a lot over the course of these past ten years. When I was really young, we used to always meet up with my aunt, uncle, cousins and grandparents at my aunt's house. We'd get Subway sandwich platters, open presents, find the pickle on the tree for a prize, have dessert, sit by the fire and talk, and it felt really relaxed and exciting. Maybe partially because we were kids who still believed in Santa Claus and didn't know anything else, but we were all together and that was what mattered. 

Then, when I was about ten or so, my grandparents passed away and my aunt moved into their old house, so we had it there a couple years. It was weird not having them around; it didn't feel real, because they were always such a big part of Christmas. My grandma always decorated the house to the nines and it felt like a mini Santa's Village. I'm not sure why, but when we moved to a new house, we started doing it over here for several years. But, as time went on, everyone started getting busy or having other places to go, having kids, relationships, etc. so it was down to just my aunt coming over. That's when we started going to the Christmas Eve service and dinner afterwards, because that was something I had always wanted to do, and my other aunt and uncle started joining in with us. 

I've realized that nothing is set in stone, and honestly it's more exciting now when plans change. I'm still with the people I love; it's mainly the scenery that changes from year to year, whether it's a restaurant or who ends up coming over, but either way it's still a wonderful time. I've learned to accept whatever happens instead of dwelling on the things I wish I could change, because it'll only make you bitter in the end. 

That's all for now,

Shelby