Secret Santa

Every Christmas since our freshman year of high school, a group of my friends and I have exchanged gifts as “secret Santa,” and it’s something I have really come to enjoy. Now that we’re all getting older, especially, and are starting to move away from our youth, coming into responsibilities, like college, jobs, significant others, moving away, and all of that other “adult like” stuff, it’s so good that even if only one day out of the year, we can all be together, push the rest aside and pretend that we’re “teens” again! HA!

I was able to borrow my dad’s truck today, which was great, and met up with the rest of the gang at Chili’s. We had interesting conversations on just about everything-catching up on the little details of what we’d been up to, cars (the guys brought this one up, of course), TV shows, movies, celebrities, and whatever else seemed to come up. And we did a lot of laughing.

When we finished eating, we went back to Liz’s house to hang out and open presents. We had Christmas music playing and the fireplace was going. It really did feel like a Christmas episode from one of my favorite sitcoms. Probably Friends.

Me and Laurie :)

“Three Amigos” since 7th grade

Me and Liz :)

Our dysfunctional little family…And I wouldn’t have it any other way :)

I was the first to go, and Andrew was my “secret santa” gift giver, and ironically enough, I was his, which gave us all a little laugh. The package was all decked out and creative, as usual, with brown paper stamped with my name and “hope” all around. Inside all of the tissue paper, it ended up being a really pretty, festive scarf and a bracelet, which I’m SO excited about being able to wear for either Christmas or New Year’s Eve. If I haven’t expressed how much I love scarves, I really do. They can dress up any outfit and just add so much.

Everyone else opened their gifts and we started trying to decide what to do next, whether we should watch a movie or play a game, but no one could really think of what to do. Liz also gave me my birthday present from this year, and she seriously outdid herself. She got me an engraved jewelry box, an engraved bracelet that says, “my best friend loves me,” two scarves, a knit wrap for my head, some candy, two cards and a gift card to Target! I was SO happy and totally just feeling the love with everyone there. We took some pictures; silly and normal ones, then just hung out for a bit. We started watching TV, and somehow we ended up getting sucked into Grey’s Anatomy. None of us, except for Tiffany, had any idea what was going on, so we were all just adding our own commentary to it, which was much better anyway. And then Cory made some comment about Patrick Dempsey..I don’t remember exactly what he said, but I remember the girls all started attacking and defending Mr. McDreamy…Who knows? lol.

Pretty soon, half of the group left, because they had stuff to do…So, it was me, Liz, Andrew and Nolan. We weren’t too sure of what to do, so we sat on the couches for awhile and then decided to play games. We played Headbands, which is basically like 20 Questions, only you have a card on your head and you’re being timed. That was rather frustrating for all of us, but I can’t tell you how.stinking.hard. we were laughing. Nolan had “newspaper” on his head, but was stuck on square shapes somehow and kept getting further and further away from it. Liz and I were practically dying on the floor. It was perfect. Then, we ended up playing the Heads Up app that Ellen has and it is the best ever. I’d only seen her do it on the show, but I’d never played, and it’s so much fun. There are several different categories and types that you can choose from. I did the superstar one a couple times, we tried the animals, movies, and icons/legends. But, I think my favorite had to be “Hey Mr. DJ,” where you hum whatever song is on the screen and the other person has to guess. Because even if you have no idea what everyone is humming, it’s still fun to watch them get really into it.

After Andrew left, it was starting to get pretty dark and since I was driving myself this time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay that late. I hardly drive and never at night, so I didn’t know when I was going to go. But, then we started watching videos on YouTube, while laying on the floor, and I was glad to be in good company. Normally, I’m just at home, bored out of my mind and wishing I had a life, so now I finally had that opportunity. I’d missed spending time with them, so I figured I’d stay as late as I could. We ended up going out for pizza and starting a movie, Pain and Gain. I had started thinking of going home, but decided to give it a try. It was a bit rough and I was starting to get a little tired, so I decided to head home.

My gifts tonight! I am so spoiled! ;)

It was such a fun day and I am so blessed that even if I don’t get to see or talk with everyone very much these days, that we’re all still in each others lives. I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be able to keep up the Secret Santa tradition now that we are getting older and things are starting to change and shift in the dynamic of our group. In fact, it was even brought up that this year could be our last with some things that are coming up in the year to come.  That makes me very sentimental to think about, but I guess that’s life. Nothing ever stays the same. But, it also makes me appreciate this year so much more. Instead of wishing or wondering what it would be like if things were different, I’m going to take in everything that’s happening right now as it is. Right now, things are pretty great as they are.

That’s all for now,

Shelby <3 p="">