Friday, December 24, 2010

A Christmas Eve Story

Christmas morning used to be my favorite. Everything leading up to it was training for the big day. I could barely fall asleep at night due to the reindeer hooves on the roof (Bob feet in the attic) and I would wake up my sisters as early as I was allowed in the morning. We would wait upstairs or on the stairs while Mom and Bob made coffee. When we got the word, we would scramble down the stairs and one of us would play "elf" by passing out rounds of presents, one per person per round. Presents are always opened youngest to oldest.

Well as it appears, I'm getting older. In the past seven or eight years things have changed and today I made the final decision that Christmas Eve has now surpassed Christmas morning.

In general, we have the same routine.

The night of the 23rd we roll the dough for sticky buns. At about 9 am we start delivering the wonderful breakfast platters to about 10 to 12 close family friends. Some people have been getting them since we moved to Alpharetta in 1995, but my family has been doing this for years before that.

In the afternoon we go to church. We sing the same songs, listen to the same soloist, and delight in the same candlelight singing of Silent Night.

After church we head to the Carters, possibly our closest family friends, house. There between four and eight families meet every year to catch up and enjoy each others company. Bunny Boy (A Christmas Story) is always running it's 24 hour marathon which is required to be on in the background.

It's not so much what has changed in the past few years, it's how I look at things.

First and foremost, I like my sleep. So waking up in the wee hours of the morning is no longer an option. I also know what most of my gifts are, and while that means they're things I really want/need, the element of surprise is...not so much.

This morning, while delivering sticky buns, I got to talk to some great people. The Lochers, whom I don't see very often, got to meet Grady and we visited for a long time. I also went to drop some off at Haley Nelson's house, which somehow I didn't leave for over an hour and a half. This morning's fellowship was the first thing that reminded me how much I love Christmas Eve.

Tonight at the Carters was happy hour. We went our separate ways for dinner but happy hour was together.

And it's safe to say it was a success.

It was hard to determine what was my favorite part but I've mapped out some of the best:

- Bob brought a mini keg.

- Miss James (Grandma) was drinking wine, much to the dismay of her daughter. And girlfrand DRANK that wine.

- The two 20-year-olds drank beer in front of their parents- Kevin to looks of apathy from the parents, Ben nervously darting his eyes towards his mother, waiting for a lecture or ID check.

- Kevin taught Miss James how to "pound it," complete with explosion.

- Aunt Nancy entered the room announcing, "HO HO HO...the hoe is HERE!!!" After reintroducing herself to Kevin she realized he's the same boy she's seen for at least 10 years of Christmas Eve's and decided he'd grown up well. She then made a motion to take him into the other room with her.

I mean honestly...I can't pick just ONE favorite.

All that being said, it's wonderful that I get to spend the holidays with such wonderful people. I would take a Christmas Eve over a Christmas morning any day.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Grady's Lady

I am home. Articles turned in, scantrons filled out, done with fall semester. Done done done.

I came home yesterday to meet the male boxer my parents rescued. After seeing a picture of him I thought he was adorable and wonderful and that we'd be life long friends. I suggested that we name him Grady after the UGA journalism school. And we did.

I annoyed the heck out of my manfriend, saying at least 40 times, "I get to meet Grady soon!" I liked him already.

So you can imagine my excitement when I got home yesterday and got to see him in person for the first time. After saying hi to him, I sat on the floor to pet our other dog, Sugar.

As I was sitting and petting, my new friend Grady decided we should take things to the next level. He promptly climbed onto my shoulders and began expressing his masculinity towards my back. In a moment of realization, I made a strange "Wahhhhhhh!??!?!" noise and crawled around until I could escape from his grasp and stand up.

I looked around, begging the invisible crowd for some pity.

Once I regained some dignity, I unloaded the car, got some water, and sat down on the couch. Grady climbed up on the couch next to me and, remembering how Bob said Grady was a lap dog, I welcomed him.

POOR DECISION, CINDY.

Once again, I fell victim to our unneutered stray. I caught on to what was happening a little quicker this time and I pushed him off the couch and scrambled away until I could stand up and look back in disbelief.

Luckily, Grady's losing his manhood tomorrow morning at nine. Hopefully we can be friends after that, but first impressions can be hard to forget.

Friday, December 10, 2010

See you later

This morning one of my best friends and my roommate of the past 2.5 years graduated and moved out. Her room is empty and white and depressing. So instead of sulking I'm going to remember the good times. And what better way to do that than to look through all my pictures and post a ton of them?

So, Ann-Katherine Hailey, here's to one trip to Memphis:




One cup and string phone:



One emotional fish funeral:



Two years of Spike for Life:




Two Daddy-Daughter days with Bob:




Two spring breaks:





Three formals:





Three dance marathons:




Four bid days:





Four falls of gamedays:






Five boxes of hair dye:



Seven birthdays:






Tons of socials:







And possibly even more date nights:








And so, in a moment of sappiness, here is my favorite friendship quote ever, courtesy of Winnie the Pooh:

"If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember: you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you.”

Hopefully the end of college won't be the end of our wonderful times together. Miss you already.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Published again!

Woohoo!

My big final article from my internship in internal communications at Emory Healthcare has finally gone up on the website! I wrote a number of articles during my internship (summer 09) but this was an article where I wrote, interviewed and photographed the story.

Check it out here!