Considering the fact that I have been essentially celebrating Christmas since December 15, the actual day was quite smashing! Neen and I headed out of town on Christmas eve, late afternoon. We actually talked the entire way home, and we did not argue about anything (shocking, I know)!
We stopped by big bro’s apt to help him finish up his Christmas gift to our parents. Last weekend he asked my sister and I to make a 1-2 minute video message saying how appreciative and loved we felt. While I do love my parents very much and I am very appreciative of all they have given us over the years, I do not love the video camera. Thanks to the digital age, we are capable of taking 19 shots of the same photo opportunity until we are happy with what we get. A video is a running, streaming reminder of what I look like and how I sound, I am not a big fan of that. I put it off for as long as I could, and avoided my brother’s phone calls for a few days, to no avail. We ended up doing a collective video of the four us, the originals plus the newest Jenn C. It is entertainingly and delightfully flawed. We were all happy with it. “It” was a dvd collection of our greatest pictures from the wedding, the road trips and the get-togethers.
I was honestly touched by the generosity shown by mine and Ryan’s families. I am fortunate enough to get to celebrate Christmas with his family every year (amazingly smart to celebrate Christmas a bit early to get people together!). I brought home so much fun loot and this year, there isn’t one gift that I traded to my sister or tried to figure out how to return it quietly. My new candles/diffuser are already proudly on display, my new pj pants have been sported around the apartment on several occasions, I’ve watched my secret indulgence on dvd and put up my new calendar; I’ve even re-organized my closet based on my new hangers. The gifts I gave this year were quite a hit. My brother and I got each other the same thing, a gorilla pod. We both bragged to Neen about it, it’s fantastic features and flexibility and how neat the gift was. Then she called us both and spilled the secret.
After all the celebrating and gift giving, Neen and I headed home. And that’s where the fun stops. For years I have bragged about my ticket-free driving record. Well, there is a first time for everything. I got my first speeding ticket ever in my nearly 8 years of driving. Of course, it was given to me in Waldo (grumble grumble). I have driven that road countless times in the 6 years that I’ve lived in Gainesville and have always been careful of my speed in that horrible area. I have no excuses, the police officer was fair and not rude or awful. I was speeding (because I wasn’t paying attention) and I got a ticket, a very expensive mistake. I held it together, though with shaking hands, until I got home and everything hit me and the tears spilled out. I am currently going through a self-imposed financial punishment for the month of January. No more coffee/bagel treats at work, no OG this month, no Panera soup and salad and no new clothes this month. Ouch. My ticket will definitely be a lesson learned. The fun part is, I get to plead “no contest” in a hearing to see if the judge will have mercy on me and wipe away the bad... wish me luck and think of me at 2:30 on January 31.
Happy holidays!
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