Christmas 2005

Greetings. Since the Thanksgiving post from last month included the year, why not Christmas?

Saturday after the Cowboys game, my dad picked me and Tony up to go back to my parents' house. (One quick note here on the Cowboys' win: yes, they won; but do they deserve to be in the play offs? I think not, but that's another topic altogether). I got Tony settled at my parents house and then my dad and I went to Neil and Brandy's house for a family dinner. There was even an aunt and two of my cousins there, in from a small East Texas town. That was cool to see them and have one of those large family gatherings, one with more than 8 people. My grandmother, on my mom's side, had also come in town and was staying with my parents as well.

Saturday night, my parents, my aunt, my brother Tim and I all went to a Christmas program at my parents church. It was a good program, as Christmas programs go. One part that really was neat I thought was the reading of several letters. The program's theme was Letters of Christmas, and they had a video of someone talking to different kids about letters to Santa, different people on stage that were acting the roles of people in one's family (like a mother, a soldier serving overseas, and others). Well, toward the end of the program, different people read letters written from God and addressed to the reader. Some of them were written, "Dear Lonely One," "Dear Hurried One," "Dear Blessed One," and others. The one that spoked to me in particular was the Lonely One letter. That was cool and different.

I slept, if you can call it that, at my parents house Christmas Eve night. I say this because I slept on a couch in our living room, but there are no doors that can shut the room off from the other parts of the house. So, as a result, I heard every sound from the kitchen and even the TV which was two rooms away. Needless to say, I got probably about as much sleep at my mother did, not actually getting to sleep until after midnight and waking early Sunday morning. Next year, I will probably fly in from Austin, and at that time, I'm going to insist on being in a room where you can close a door. Where I sleep isn't a big issue, since I've slept on many floors before. But, being able to close that door for some quiet is a luxury that I didn't have this time around.

I know that we can't control what day Christmas actually falls on, but I don't mind saying that it was weird to have it on a Sunday. There were time that it really felt like christmas, and other times when it just felt like any other Sunday, especially after the big Christmas dinner. It was odd to think that you could go to church like normal, even though it was a Holiday.

It was a good Christmas though, being with family and just hanging out. I spent some good quality time with my youngest nephew, who's a year and a half old, and happens to be named after me: Cameron. I seem to be one of his favorite people, or he really likes to cuddle. I carried him around and we looked at light switches, lights, some mirrors, talked about people in the mirror (mainly him and me), and generally had a good time. I'm not sure what it is though: whenever we move around and I have him facing me or away from me in my arms, he's fine. As soon as I sit down though and try to get comfortable, he gets restless and wants to get down. Consequently, when we do spend lots of time together, my arms get tired after awhile. Oh well; its fun all the same.

As for gifts, I came out pretty well, with many new kinds of clothes, mainly for my pending work but good stuff all the same. I also got a couple of gift certificates, and a set of 4 dishes from my parents, which include 4 glasses, salad plates, regular plates, and cereal bowls. Those will definitely be put to good use. I'm going to go from using paper and plastic silverware and dishes to real ones. That's going to be weird, having used the paper/plastic ones for so many years on my own. I don't mind the change though, :)

Over all, it was a good Christmas, even if it did fall on a Sunday. My aunt said on Saturday that Christmas Eve is feeling more and more like Christmas Day, and I think she's right on that. I guess we'll find out what it feels like to have Christmas Eve on a Sunday next year. Hopefully you had a good time with your family/friends too. Personally the Christmas feeling really doesn't end until we get to, or even past, New Years. And, the new resolutions don't really start until January 1, or maybe even next Monday this year, so you still have time to indulge yourself before the new diet starts. Sounds good to me, grin.