The Awe Some-ness of Christmas

T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house
Every creature was stirring, even the mouse.

Don't worry, I'm not going to launch into a rewrite of the famous, Night Before Christmas. Although, that seems to be a popular thing for writers to put their own spins on during the holiday season. I have to admit, I did think of giving into temptation and rewriting it as well, but that's not really what I felt like I should write about. Instead of rewriting the ever popular poem, I'm just going to tell you about my Christmas.

Christmas has always been a big thing for my family. Every year my dad makes sure to inform the household that the tree doesn't go up until the day after Thanksgiving...and every year he gets ignored. Actually  in truth, he was listened to until my siblings and I discovered that we have the ability to pull out the Christmas decorations ourselves. By that point, my dad didn't want to pull out the boxes and began saying, "I guess we can put it up today -Thanksgiving -but you kids have to get all the boxes out." It is always done. Seriously, it never fails. The tree is always up by Thanksgiving night.

The decorating of the tree marks the beginning of the Christmas season. After that everything Christmas attacks the house. Christmas music, Christmas cookies, snow, hot chocolate, Christmas movies, prayers for snow days...etc...etc...the list goes on and on. Yet, it is not the onslaught of theses things, nor the tree, nor the gifts, that makes Christmas important for me. There is something that occurs every year possible that is the reason I look forward to Christmas...and that's the annual gathering of my family on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, if possible, my family -on my mom's side -meets up at my Grandma's home. This is a tradition that has been going on since before I was born. When I was a little brat, the gathering was rather small. It was my parents, my two aunts, my two uncles, my grandparents, my two cousins, and then my sister and myself. Now though, our family has grown. It has gone from twelve attendants eighteen.

This year everyone was able tot attend the gathering, I must say it was one of the best ones yet. Christmas is one of the tender times in my life and I'm sure it's safe to say it's the same for my oldest cousin. She and I are roughly four months apart and this holiday will always be near to our hearts. Our grandpa made Christmas.

There are no words that I could use that could accurately describe how wonderful of a man our grandpa was. He is the reason that Megan -my cousin -and I consider Christmas to be one of the most precious holidays.

There are many things I could go into detail about when it comes to why this Christmas was so great, but allow me to tell them to you in a list. Here are some of the reasons I love Christmas Eve and my family:

1. A Walk Down Memory Lane:
This year we did something new. We took out a bunch of old home videos of past Christmases and watched them. It was both entertaining and tearful, as my grandpa is no longer with us and I couldn't help but remember all the good times I had with him when I was little.

2. My Uncles:
My uncles are characters. When they are around there is never a dull moment.

3. My Cousins:
I have a lot more cousins now then I did back when I was there ages -think 11 and under here -and each and everyone of them have such unique personalities. This contributes to the next thing...

4. Blending of Personalities:
It was interesting to watch my family this year. Why? Because we are all different ,there's no doubt about that, and it was fun to watch all of our personalities interact.

Sigh...my words seem to be failing me at the moment. I wanted to tell you how wonderful my Christmas Eve and Christmas was, but I seem to be unable to find the desired words. The only word I can think of to describe it is awesome.

And when I use 'awesome', I really mean Awe Some. It was two days full of awing moments. From looking around at my younger cousins and thinking, "That use to be us,"...to watching home videos of our parents when they were our age and thinking, "That could be us,"...to looking around at my uncles, aunts, and parents and thinking, "That will be us,"...to the beautiful morning that was my Christmas day where my immediate family gathered around the tree...to the current moments of us all doing our own things but still enjoying the other's company. There has been no rush theses past two days. No worry has entered my mind. All I've cared about, all my family has seemed to care about, is spending time with each other. And that, my friends, has been Awe Some.

There is truly no greater gift on earth than time well spent with family. I love each and every one of them and, if any of them are reading this, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being part of my family. I love you all and will cherish all of the memories I have of all of you.

Merry Christmas, everyone. If you haven't found time for some holiday Cheer yet, there's still a few hours left in the day (At least there is where I reside) and I encourage you to do so. Don't let this Christmas pass by.

Everything but Studying

Picture this, the soft glow of white Christmas lights cling to the brick of a dorm room wall while Christmas music plays on both computers in the room. A Christmas movie, about a little girl asking Santa for someone to compliment her mommy, plays softly in the background. Neither girl that dwells in the room are paying much attention to the movie. Their eyes and ears only take in enough of it to know the plot. They are otherwise preoccupied.

English and Criminal Justice assignments scatter the desks of theses two girls. Documents are open on their laptops, the insertion cursors blinking in an impatient manner...urging them to get at least a few words down. Yet, with espresso in the coffee pot and pop in the fridge, the caffeine in the girl's systems are much too high for them to just sit and work on dull assignments. They knew those cups of caffeine were a bad idea, but they had seemed like such a good one at the time. They knew taking those naps would only make them stay up latter, but they were so low on sleep that they craved a couple hours of dream land.

With a blue and silver themed tree winking at them, the girls giggle over nothing and everything. the glittery snowflakes hanging from the tree capture their attention every once in awhile, reminding them of the fact that they have oh-shiny-disorder and should probably unplug the tree while attempting to study. Yet, the lights, the snowflakes, the bulbs and bells are all too pretty to miss out on. 

Distractions, distractions, they're everywhere and the girls are more than willing to take part in them.

"I have that Olympic paper to write."

"I have that portfolio to work on."

"Let me braid your hair."

"Okay."

It's funny how girly these two girls turn when assignments need to be done. With due dates fast approaching  they become increasingly aware of the state of disarray their hair is in, of the chips in their nail polish, of the disorganized mess of hair products and makeup on their dressers...the urge to ignore their homework and do their hair is strong. So strong they dare not resist.

Of course, there is only so much time one can spend on makeup and hair. Soon they are seated back in front of their assignments. Yet, a few moments later they decided that the dorm room is too dirty to work in. Time to make the beds, to make sure all laundry is in the washer/dryer, to organize the closets, to wash the fridges...but, the room wasn't dirty enough to keep them away for long and they are once again returning to their assignments.

"How's your paper coming?"

"I have a sentence. You?"

"A paragraph."

"I'm tired."

"Me too."

"I'll make more coffee."

And so more caffeine is placed in their systems and they have yet to accomplish any of their assignments. They now have a spotless dorm room, perfect hair and makeup, uncluttered desks, and a coffee pot that's working overtime, but there is still a pile of assignments to be done. Coffee is made and they attempt, yet again, to be productive.

"Now how far are you?"

"I need 200 more words."

"I've reached half a page...I think we deserve a break."

"Facebook."

"Fanfiction."

"DeviantArt."

"Youtube."

"Blogging."

"Amazon."

Minutes pass and turn into an hour. One raises a question about the time of a final. The other checks her planner. They become aware of just how close their deadlines are and...

"We need to get back to work."

"I've got to at least knock out this part tonight. Otherwise I won't have enough time to get it completed."

"Uh oh. I lost my book."

"Did you check under the bed?"

"I found it...It was behind my pillow."

"How'd it get there?"

"I dunno."

"Okay, okay, back to work."

With minds set on finally accomplishing something in the form of assignments  the girls take their places for a night of homework.

Prologue

This week has been an interesting one for me. It had its ups, it had its downs, and it had those days where I didn't want to do anything but write. Yet, even though life did prevent me from writing as much as I wished I could, I still did write. It's one of the writings I wrote this week that I am giving you in this post. Isn't very long, but it is something I liked once I finished it...which has become somewhat of a rarity lately.

The following is a prologue that I wrote this week for a story a friend and I are working on together. We haven't put any of the chapters for it up on our DeviantArt accounts yet (Mine -> http://writingangel2010.deviantart.com/ His -> http://gabrielraven.deviantart.com/ ), but we will sometime in the future. We really need to nail down a title and see how our plot's going before we post any of them. However, what I'm giving you is a peek at what we're working on. 

So, here's my first contribution to our untitled story. I hope you enjoy it :) 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was late fall of 2012 when it all happened. I was a college junior at the time, on my way to receiving some sort of English degree. One break had just ended and I was already counting down the days until the next one. Piles upon piles of papers were due, one presentation after another had to be done, and I was growing tired of answering the question, "What are the major themes of this story and why are they important?" Yes, it was late fall, with chilled air nipping at my nose and seeping through my converse shoes, and it was on a day I was questioning why I ever chose to major in English that it all happened. 

One doesn't ever expect such things to occur to them. It's not even a thought most people entertain. So, imagine my shock when it happened to me. Something that only happened in ghost tales taking place in my own life. 

I'm sorry. By this point you must be somewhat confused. You are, no doubt, wondering what I am talking about. "Just what happened to you," you must be saying. The impossible, the improbable, the unthinkable, that's what happened. 

It was a day in the late fall, when I wanted to get out of the cold and into the comforting heat of the library, that it happened. It was when I wished to gather the resources I needed and then head back to my dorm for a hot shower. It was when I came face to face with a real, live ghost. Well, not a live ghost, for ghosts aren't actually alive. That's sort of what makes them a ghost, but it was a ghost all the same. Little did I know that a creature of fairy tale could have such a real impact on my life.