Santa Brought the Goods

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!! I had a spectacular one myself, as always, and have lots of (hopefully) interesting stories to tell! As you can see above, my sibs and I must've been good boys and girls, because Santa brought some serious loot to our place this year. I received many awesome gifts, including eight My Little Ponies (**evidence**), 12 shirts/dress tops, two decorative Chinese dragon pillows, a music box, a scrap-booking box full of wedding materials, make-up, movies, and the list goes on and on!

Christmas Eve is when Mike comes to visit my family at home to exchange gifts, and I was so excited to give him his presents!! This year I bought him the best neck tie I have ever seen. With this tie, his wardrobe is truly complete! I also got him this neat-O frame to put his Bachelor's degree in, which has a big "W" cut into the matting with photos from Western's campus filling it. I'll have to post a picture of it later, because it's pretty badass. When you work that hard for your degree, it deserves a special place on the wall, and it's about time Mike's got its own. Lord knows that the day after I graduate, I'm making an F-ing shrine for mine, so it only seems fair. ;) In return, Mike gave me a new stick of RAM for my desktop, O. M. G. Seriously, I'm so happy, because I'm ready to throw that machine out the window. He also got me lots of nice make-up, and my own boomerang necklace (**piccy**)!! He's had a boomerang necklace since I met him, which he always wears and I've always loved. He had a replica of it made in white gold, which I adore! :)

Christmas day was pretty awesome, with the parents waking us up early to open gifts. We spent the morning giving and receiving presents from one another while listening to music and taking pictures. Afterwards, we all piled in the car to head south for more family time! We picked up my Aunt Diane and headed to Grandma J's for Christmas dinner and more gift-giving! I spent several hours enjoying my extended relatives before Christmas day finally drew to a close.

This year my older sister Kristen and I got to spend a long weekend together right after Christmas! This was great fun because with her living downstate and me in school, I only get to see her a few rare times a year, and usually during holidays while surrounded by other family members. She took me to her apartment where we proceeded to relax until Sunday! We went out to her favorite bar and grill, saw Marley and Me in the theaters, met with some of her friends for lunch, and got to go shopping. We also watched some movies, some Knight Rider, and played lots of Mariokart (by far our favorite family video game). We also busted out the Super Nintendo to play all our old school games! Of these, I personally revisited Mariokart, StarFox, MarioPaint (and the fly-swatting game), Mighty Max, and the Road Runner game. It was superb! I had a great time at her place and I was sad to leave today. It isn't very often I literally have a break from everything to simply relax and enjoy old hobbies.

I'm home now until New Year's Eve, which I'll be spending with Nick, Colleen and Mike in Grand Rapids!! My break is already half over, and I can't believe all I've done so far. I look forward to another two weeks of no homework and spending time with family. :)