What I Got For Christmas

1. $400 - $50 from my "second-parents." $100 from my grandparents, $250 from my parents. Dad gave me $50 before I went to the Smokeys last weekend so I could buy some new clothes for the Christmas festivities. I got a $100 outfit at Geoffrey Beane for $50. That was cool. The rest of the money I plan on spending on clothes that fit. I have dropped 3 dress sizes since last Christmas and hardly have any clothes that fit. The rest, I'll blow on junk that I don't need, and hopefully have a little left over to save. Yeah right!
2. 2 new pairs of Scrubs to wear to work. Boy, did I need those!!! I wear those to work so that I don't carry around snot stains and spit-up stains from the kids on my good clothes. The grandparents bought me a cute pair of pink ones, and my sister bought me a cute pair of green ones, trimmed in purple. Now I want a new pair of Crocs to go with them. I think purple ones would be good.
3. A fleece blanket with cards and dice on it. That was the perfect present! My sister-n-law made it for me. It's two layered; black on one side, red, white, and black on the other. I love it. It's so cozy! And I love cards and all that stuff, too. Totally AWESOME!
4. 3 DVDs. A friend got me "Love's Abiding Joy." It's the fourth in a series of Christian-based movies set in the 1800s. I love movies like that. Sister got me "Elizabethtown." I love that movie. Orlando Bloom, need I say more? Brother and Sister-n-law got me "Anchor Man." I have yet to see it, but I love Will Ferrell. He is so hilarious. I can't wait to watch it!
5. "The Innocent Man." I have read every John Grisham novel ever written. This is his newest one, and his first work of non-fiction. I have seen several interviews with him about the book. His research was exhaustive. I am 4 chapters into it, and so far, it is great. My cousin/best friend bought that for me. She knows me so well.
6. Bath stuff and lotion. Mom and dad got me shower gel and body butter from Victoria's Secret. Pear Glace`. It's my favorite. This is the first year that I didn't get too much of that stuff.
   
7. Hallmark Keepsake ornament. Roommate got it for me. It's "Gone With the Wind." That's my favorite movie of all time, and I have $1000s of memorabilia from the movie. I love it. It's Scarlett in her black mourning dress after her first husband died, and Rhett coming to visit her. At this point in the movie, she was drinking away her sorrows, and he was begging her to give him a chance. She was still playing hard to get b/c she thought she was in love with Ashley. I love it. Did I say that already?
8. 4 pairs of cute socks. I love socks. I make it my personal mission every morning to make sure that my socks are cute and that they do not match the outfit that I'm wearing. It's my "thing." Roommate and her daughter got me some with Snoopy and Christmas lights. Mom and dad got me three pairs from Aeropostle. The best of the three are the pair that are decorated like a pair of sneakers. How cool is that?
9. 3 gift cards. The girls at work got me a $50 gift card to Cato's - Yea! New clothes!!! Roommate got me a $20 gift card to LifeWay Christian Bookstore, so that I can buy the fourth and final book in the Mountain series by Lori Wick. I've been waiting for a month to get see if I was going to get that book for Christmas. Perfect gift. Then, my aunt and uncle got me a $25 gift card to Cracker Barrel. Ordinarily, this would be a much appreciated gift. However, this year... not so much. They gave it to me and my sister to share. Now, I believe that it makes perfect sense to give the one $25 card to my parents to share, and the one $25 card to my brother and his wife to share. But, why should I have to share with my sister. I love her very much, it just doesn't seem fair. What if I wanted to spend my $12.50 on something from their store and she wanted to spend hers on food. And which one of keeps the card? Right now, she has it. And... what if I want to go tonight with Roommate, and Sister wants to wait until next month when she goes out with her crew of people? What gave them the right to decide that we would have to go together. The alternative is that one of us keeps the card and buys the other one out for their $12.50. Stupid. Whatever... it is the Cracker Barrel. I'm sure we can work it out somehow.
10. A TV Trivia Card Game. I haven't played yet, but it's burning a whole in my pocket. I'm sure Best Friend will stomp my tail, but I can't wait!
11. A Q-20 ball. You think of an object. The ball asks you 20 questions about it. You have 4 answer choices: yes, no, sometimes, and unknown. After the 20th question, it guesses what you're thinking. Most of the time, it's right. Sometimes, you can trick it pretty good. If its first answer is wrong, it will ask you 5 more questions and make another guess. The only thing that I have thought of that it didn't guess was "candle" and "candle stick." It's awesome and keeps me entertained (it doesn't take much, obviously). Parents got me that too.
12. Jewelry. Parents got me a thumb ring. I used to love wearing thumb rings. I had one that was my favorite. Years ago, I let a guy at work wear it. We liked each other, we were teenagers, we exchanged jewelry. He lost it while shoveling a pile of sand at the water park where we worked. I was so upset. Now I have a new one. It's almost just like the one that he lost. One friend-from-restaurant gave me a bracelet with cards on it. So cool. The other friend-from-restaurant made me a bracelet. It has a charm on it that says "I Love to Talk." She knows me so well. It's a little big, so she's going to have to do a little surgery on it so that it will fit better. But I love it.
13. One little miracle. I had spent some serious time in prayer about wanting this certain miracle. Yes... it's a guy-thing. But that's OK. I have an on-going confusion about Ex and Crush. On Christmas Eve, I prayed and asked for clarity on the situation. On Christmas night, while I was at Parents' house with no cell service, Crush called me. His call was immediately forwarded to my voice mail. He left me a message saying that he was calling to wish me a Merry Christmas and to see how I was doing. I didn't call him back, because sometimes he has to wake up very early for work, and it was late in the game when I got the message. Maybe I'll call him back tonight. Maybe I'll send him an email. Guess we'll have to see how that works out. And really, I don't even know if he has a crush on me or not. Some days I think that he does, and some days I think he is just a nice guy and is being a good friend. I never know how to take him. He lives two hours away and I only see him once a week. So, I'll just wait...

I had a great Christmas. It's not just about the gifts. I love getting to spend time with family that I don't get to see as often as I would like. I also love getting to spend time with friends. This year, I have formed a very special friendship with Roommate. We have known each other for years, and have been friends for a few years. During the past few months though, we have been brought together. Her husband is in the military and is away fighting the the war. At the same time that he left, I had to move out of my apartment. I wasn't quite sure where I was going to go, or what I was going to do. She offered to let me move in with her and her kids while her husband was gone. It has worked out quite well, I believe. I think, well I hope anyways, that I help her get through life without her husband, and she is giving me a place to live. In the meantime, I am saving money, and we have become the best of friends. This year, she and her kids celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family. It was really awesome to know that my family so warmly extended itself to her family, and to know that her family has so warmly extended itself to me. God's blessings are so great. Christmas is a special time to remember and reflect on that.