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It's now January 3, and the holiday season is pretty much over for me. I've visited everyone I needed to, the leftovers have finally been eaten, and if I hadn't already graduated (woot!), I'd be getting ready for a new semester of classes. Pretty much the only thing left on my list is to take down the Christmas tree and decorations, which I'll probably do today.
After my trip to Tennessee last week, I spent one night at home before heading to Anniston to see my friend Rachel. I always look forward to visiting her because we always have such a fun and relaxing time, just sitting on her couch, talking, eating junk food, and watching pretty British actors. I'm not exaggerating when I say that we never leave the house except to scavenge for food, and even then, the wonders of delivery pizza occasionally take that responsibility out of our hands.
We had a particularly fantastic playlist this time. We watched two discs of How I Met Your Mother, one of Supernatural, two of Brisco County Jr., Jurassic Park, How to Train Your Dragon, and an old-school Doctor Who ("The Robots of Death" with Tom Baker). The icing on the cake, though, was when we left the house and saw Tangled. I know, I know, I just said that we never leave the house, but this was the exception that proves the rule. Kerri came over on New Years Eve because she had the day off work, and she wanted to go see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. However, on the ten-minute ride into town, she and Rachel referenced a joke in Tangled and were horrified when I didn't get it. Despite the fact that neither had seen Narnia, they agreed that Tangled was a far more pressing concern. Even with the annoying children sitting behind us, we all agreed that it held up on a second (or first) viewing and is one of the cutest movies ever.
I would have stayed with Kerri and Rachel through New Years, but I had plans to visit my dad's side of the family on Saturday. Since my parents decided we wouldn't spend Christmas Day with them, like in years past, I was glad that I got to see them at all. I knew when Nanny died that I would see that side of the family less often than before, so I treasured the time I had with them.
I've been home for a couple of days now, and it feels weird settling into my old routine of staying in the house all day. I keep feeling like there is something I should be doing or some place that I should be going, but there's nothing to do now but wait and continue my job search. Hopefully I'll have some news regarding that in the coming weeks!
The holiday season is a time for visiting family at Thanksgiving, having a big to-do, and then turning right around and seeing everyone a month later at Christmas. Since I'm no longer a student, though, this is more than likely my last substantial Christmas break. I have no idea where I'll be in a year, but the real world sucks because you only get a couple of days off, and I doubt that I'll be able to visit family like I'm used to doing.
For as long as I can remember, my family always waited to visit family until the day after Christmas. When I was little and we lived in Ashford, Christmas visits lasted nearly a week. We would drive north for three hours and spend a couple of days at Nanny's house, drive four hours to see Grandmother and Grandpa in Tennessee, and spend three or four days there before turning around and stopping at Nanny's again for a night. After moving to Birmingham, though, the tradition changed. We would go to Nanny's for lunch on Christmas Day, and we would only spend the afternoon there (as opposed to two or three nights in Tennessee). This year's events have changed everything again, but we still go to Tennessee the day after Christmas, which is where I've been for the past two days.
On Sunday, right after church, my mom, my sister, and I drove up to Tennessee, despite the fact that my mom was panicking about the snow and ice that had occurred the night before (yeah, she's one of THOSE Southerners...I couldn't see the big deal and subsequently annoyed her). However, we got there perfectly fine, with no incidents besides getting stuck in traffic for half an hour.
There's really nothing to describe because we never do anything besides sit in the house, talk to my grandmother and aunts and uncles, and catch up on the details of everybody's lives. No baking, no presents, no shopping, etc. I didn't even have much to contribute to the conversations since I had defended my thesis by Thanksgiving (so they already know about that big event) and my job search is going nowhere (so there are no useful updates). But it was still nice to see everyone, and I hope it won't be Christmas again before I have time off to make the trip to Tennessee.
I've never been the person with the most Christmas cheer, but for months I've been dreading this particular Christmas because it would be my first without my paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather. Every kid associates Christmas with three things: a break from school, presents, and visits to grandparents' houses. I've never been the biggest fan of change, but over the past couple of years, each one is slowly slipping away. Now that I'm graduated the first no longer applies to me, I bought most of my presents myself and gave them to my mom to wrap, and now I only have one grandparent left to visit. Ever since we moved to Birmingham in 1997, my family's Christmas tradition was to open presents before going to Nanny's house for Christmas dinner. This year, though, we started a new tradition of staying at our own house.
In the end, I didn't need to worry because Christmas is still Christmas, no matter where you spend it. And actually, it felt more like a proper Christmas than any previous one because....it snowed! I'm thoroughly convinced that my Christmas spirit is directly tied to the images of snow and coats and scarves that I get from television and movies. A white Christmas is something that everyone in Alabama hopes for, but we all know that we'll never get it. This year, though, a Christmas miracle occurred and slowly turned the rainy sleet into snow.
The snow started early in the morning, so I opened up the curtains in every room while we opened presents and ate dinner. This was Buster Cat's first Christmas, but he was relatively unimpressed. Like most cats he's not a fan of noise, so he stayed on the stairs while we all unwrapped presents. After everything calmed down, he was excited that everybody was gathered in one room, which meant that he could get as much attention as he wanted. He quickly wore himself out playing, and he curled up in my closet until late in the afternoon.
Mom made Christmas dinner for the first time in years, and it was delicious (although I did ask her why she made so much...no one but Dad and me ever eat leftovers!). After that, everybody dispersed - Emily to her computer, Chris to his bedroom, Mom to her chair for a nap, and Dad to his laptop. Which meant that I had uninterrupted access to the television and the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America. I watched nearly twelve straight hours of Doctor Who, from a few older episodes and a short marathon of all previous Christmas specials to the new Christmas special. Normally I have to download the episode in order to watch it on Christmas Day, but this year BBC America made the smart decision to play the episode on Christmas instead of the spring (when the new season).
I'm writing this entry on Boxing Day before we leave for a three-day visit to Tennessee. My grandmother's house has no internet access (not even a neighbor with unrestricted wireless), and I didn't want to lose the momentum I've gained over the past couple of weeks. If I can make it into the New Year with regular updates, I'll be very proud of this little blog and its perseverance!
