A Look Back at Christmas

Catching up on blogs, I see a lot of Christmas recaps. The thought really hadn’t occurred to me. This Christmas was about as weird as I expected.

• It started at the airport. I landed at SeaTac, found my dad, and we waited by the luggage carrousel. We waited and waited and waited. But, my beat up black rolling suitcase didn’t show. Finally we decided to wait in the slowest line ever to see what was up. I didn’t even want to face the thought that my luggage had been lost. The lady checked all my information, and then she went to look in this area I’d already checked. I was losing hope. But, surprise surprise, she came rolling back with my suitcase! I couldn’t help but talk back when she said something about how I must have missed it. It definitely wasn’t there! Definitely.

• Then there was the snow. It had already been on the ground for days when I arrived. I know many of you would laugh at snow like this, but the thing is that we are just not equipped to deal with it. There are very few plows, they don’t salt the streets, and people don’t know how to drive. It was so fun watching the snow fall, but—ahh!—cabin fever.

• I stayed with my dad for the first half of my trip. When I got there, he had almost nothing in his fridge except drinks and condiments. We braved the weather to get some food. Staying with my dad is always a vacation. We eat, we drink, we watch movies. It’s fun.

• My birthday was a total loss. I broke the ten-year tradition of having a pizza party (I know, how mature) at my house with my family and best friends. We were going to go out to dinner, but no one could drive. As my mom reminded me several times, it was the first birthday of mine she’d ever missed. I would have been more upset about it, but it didn’t feel anything like my birthday. For the record, turning 25 didn’t bother me at all. And, I’ll celebrate in January with my bffs.

• Christmas Eve and Christmas felt surprisingly normal. Christmas Eve we eat a meal of appetizers at my dad’s house. I pretty much only ate snacks and appetizers the entire time I was home, so the meal itself wasn’t too special to me. But, we had a good time.

• Christmas, we had brunch at my brother’s house with most of the fam. This is pretty typical for us. The only thing was that my mom and step-dad weren’t there. Later, we went to my step-dad’s sister’s (titles get complicated in blended families) house for a real Christmas dinner.

• I didn’t get anything interesting for Christmas. Mostly money and gift cards.

• The day after Christmas, my brother dropped me off at Lisa’s parent’s house. That made me feel like I was in high school. We played games!!! I won two games of electronic LIFE. Then we played Scattergories. The results of that are unimportant. Then we played another game of electronic LIFE, and I won decidedly—like, mandate won. We spent the next 4.5 hours eating pizza and watching What Not to Wear. Of course we provided our own commentary, and planned out how Lisa would nominate me and I would nominate her for the show.

• I fell in love with my iPhone all over again. In my normal life, there’s almost always a computer at arm’s length, but here at home, the internet is far less accessible. I pushed my little iPhone to new heights, and it is awesome.

• Saturday, I got sick.

• Sunday, I went home.

I don’t know. It wasn’t a bad trip. If this was a vlog, I’d shrug my shoulders and say, “eh, it was just kind of weird.” Then I’d smile.

Generally, my early twenties were far more awkward. I was so uncertain about what I was doing and who I was becoming. I feel so much better about all that now. But, now going home feels so awkward. My parents who were married at 19 skipped this weird stage between leaving home and making a home for themselves. I hate that I’m kind of relieved that I won’t be going home for at least another six months.