Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays to all of you!


On Sunday, Keith's 16th birthday by the way, we went to church for noon mass and in the early afternoon, we went to Sheila's dad's new house (it's so beautiful, it's kinda in the woods and has this big, stone fireplace) to celebrate with some family. It was very nice, we had veeery yummy food and we already got some presents (I got a Yatzee game and a pair of golden earrings from Grandpa and Grandma and another pair of earrings from Uncle Mike and Aunt... Shelby? Man I'm so bad at names...). Later, we played a form of poker, it was so much fun... I just learned it but in the end, I actually wasn't that bad.
Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, we went to church with Grandma and GG for the 6 o'clock mass where Jacob was singing in the choir. He even had a solo in the Hallelujah part, he was so good! I was really proud of my little brother :)
After church, we all went right to Uncle Bubba's house where we celebrated christmas with Doug's family. The people I had gotten to know at Thanksgiving were there, Grandpa was there and another brother of Doug and his wife whom I hadn't known yet. It was a really nice night, again we had yummy food, I met their cute dog and Courtney and I played with the kitten they had just got 2 days ago. Again, we all got some presents... I got a drawing kit, a drawing pad, graphite pencils and charcoal - from Santa ;) We left late and got home past 11. We kids all got into bed then, of course, so that Santa Claus could come and do his job...
Then, this morning around 8, the little ones came in my room, all excited, "Maria, wake up! It's christmas morning! Santa Claus was here!" It was so cute... So I went downstairs into the living-room, everybody was getting settled, Sheila made coffee, and when we were all there, including Grandma and GG who had stayed over night, we started opening our presents - one at a time.
We had sooooo many present to open - and, oh my God, I got so many!! I'll try to list it, I really hope I don't forget anything... I probably will.
a Michigan State sweater
socks, a pair of fuzzy socks, a scarf, a hat, gloves
AVON body wash, hand lotion and peach body lotion
2 cases of AVON eyeshadow
AVON nail polish dryer spray
an AVON goodie bag with all kinds of foot care stuff in it
AVON birthstone earrings
a purple toothbrush
two bags - an H&M bag that u can flip over, one side is black with red H&M logo and the other is red with a black logo... the 2nd bag is a Michigan bag with all kinds of Michigan stuff on it
an international calling card
cell phone stickers and a cell phone case
a beautiful little snow man ornament that has a picture of Doug and Sheila in it and says "2007 daughter"
flip flops
hair stuff
popcorn
a Michigan pen
CDs from my mom
leg warmers from my mom
selfknitted socks from my mom and a selfknitted cellphone sock from my mom :)
lots of earrings from my mom and from Nicole
a really warm hand warmer thing from my dad and Ulli
a supercute yellow top with a black short sleeve sweater and another striped sweater from Grandma and GG
a sugar cookie scented and really yummy like vanilla smelling candle from Grandma and GG
a book series containing of 3 books from Grandma and GG
Okay, I really hope I didn't forget anything.
Then we had the German pancakes for breakfast (not like I know them, but really yummy!) and cleaned up. Later, Grandpa (Doug's dad) came over. Sometime in the early afternoon, I took a shower and later, I had a really nice conversation with Doug, Sheila and Grandpa about college. Grandpa has those neighbors or something... they're from Germany, and the first time the husband came here was during high school as an exchange student, like me, and then he came back for college, and now he lives there up North with his family. And so we talked about the fact that I'm thinking of maybe doing a semester or 2 over here in college... well, I have those conversations with people a lot and it really makes me think that I gotta get my butt up and get my future planned.

I'll soon be 18, man. Oh my goodness, that's just scary.