Holly Jolly Christmas

And I'll also write this tomorrow when I am actually conscious because today has been a very long day.

Today started around 8 in the morning which isn't necessarily early but when you go to bed at like... 1:30 it is a little difficult. My nephew ran in and said "Kate! Kate! Wake up, it's Christmas!" like your average 6 year old should and then we all walked down stairs to open all the gifts that Santa brought us. I'm not going to sit here and list all of the nonsense that I was gifted but I will say that everything is useful except for the massive box of chocolate.

The big deal was my nephew's first video game console which is a Wii U and he sat there and played for 6 hours AND wouldn't let me leave because he "needed [my] help to defeat the bad guys." He was playing Skylanders, bad guys aren't really bad guys. Anyway, I had to sit there and help his little 6 year old brain figure out how to work it and what all the buttons do and what the point of the goals are. THIS IS SO MUCH MORE EXHAUSTING THEN YOU WOULD THINK! I don't understand how teachers can teach children anything because he did not want to learn. He just wanted to be able to do. We figured it out though, just in time for me to start getting ready for the big dinner.

Most years we invite the section of the family that we don't see on Christmas Eve over for dinner on Christmas day which we did this year as well. We mingled and had a really awesome dinner for a combined five and a half hours which is interesting because there were only 8 people in the house. Never the less, we shared stories of holidays passed and we talked about my mom. Those topics weren't necessarily Christmas-y but they were definitely entertaining!

 I hope everyone else had good Christmas! Now if we can all get though New Year's we should all be golden.

"The Child Hamster"

So, after trying on my new work costume, I was lucky enough to spend today with the beautiful Catherine and her boyfriend Alex as well as their furbabies. They collected me from the mall and then we went to a dog park here in Tampa so that their dog Penny could run around. Afterwards we dropped Penny off at home where Catherine also gave me some graduation presents!

One of them was this nifty little organizational calendar that I am sure is going to come in handy if I get accepted in to grad school so that is helpful. The other is pictures below and is one of a quite a few things that she has hand painted for me :) 

We then went to Macaroni Grill which was delicious (consumed so much food; sooooo manyyyy carrrbbbsss) and where we may or may not have been charged due to a technical difficulty they were experiencing. While we were there, I put my purse on the floor and asked Catherine to make sure I didn't leave it. Alex then suggested that I "put it in the child hamster behind you" referring to the highchair. It was perfect. 

Linner was followed by movies and video games at Catherine and Alex's apartment. Girl bonding is essential to life so I'm glad to have gotten to spend the day with her (and her furbabies) catching up!!

Today was also the day that Hunter Hayes' new album was available for download. Life is good.