christmas was nice this year. i had to work on christmas eve, which wasn't nice though. got to the christmas eve dinner at my aunt's house fairly late...so everyone watched me eat. whee! no, that didn't make me self-conscious at all =P received a gift card to borders, a shirt, and the customary tin of cookies from my relatives...hehehe. my uncle's such a hoot. every year, he gives all his relatives either a tin of cookies or chinese beef jerky...all from lucky 7 since he works there ;-)

on christmas day, brandon naturally woke us up at 10:00 am...it seems the nerf dart gun i bought for him came in handy =P so we opened our gifts...i finally got a camera! thanks, mommy! =) and a very nice one it is. i have a couple new articles of clothing, a very cute stuffed green dog from my sister, random stuff like that. ack need to hurry since i'm going to be picked up for skiing soon. so uh...yeah, presents were nice, then my sister and i made breakfast. my cousins came over and we all went to see lord of the rings...AWESOME movie. god, i loved those books, but the movie was incredible too! i'm definitely rereading the trilogy sometime soon. and amanda and i agree that legolas is hot ;-) it sucked when i had to go to the bathroom during the movie though! i mean, it's understandable since the movie was three hours, but i *so* did not want to miss anything...amanda said i didn't miss much though. just some rowing and the arrival of some orcs. uh...yeah. went out to dinner with some other relatives at a seafood restaurant...got some pearl milk tea and crispy chicken...good stuff. then i went to tim's place for a while and chilled. and thanks so much for the sweater, stan! i love it =) you have excellent taste.

today i was a bum though...got out of bed around 3:30 O_o and i found out that if i could just drop work, i could stay in reno after this ski trip to ski with my family and then go to my friend's cabin for new years! =O but...no. i am going to be responsible and not ditch work *sigh* besides, i need the money to pay for all the christmas presents i got. poo.

i am unhealthily addicted to word whomp right now. off to learn how to board ;-)

dangit, i'm looking at delias.com. this is bad. i know the crazy amount of money i spent on christmas gifts this year...bad! i think i got a bit carried away this season =X i think if i had more time for shopping, i would have been able to budget better... but yeah. i hope everyone likes their gifts =\ i finally finished everything...i hope again. =) went to toys r us and barnes tonight to get brandon his present. yeung and i picked our way through the devastation at toys r us to get brandon a nerf dart gun thingie...but then i felt like i had to balance the toy with some books..."a light in the attic" by shel silverstein and "sideway stories from wayside school" =D remember those?? i feel it necessary to try to get brandon to love reading...after all, that's where i got my vocabulary. i read too much when i was little. actually, can you really read too much? reading's good, right? well, i guess you can read too much...sometimes i would get ah...reprimanded for reading instead of paying attention to the teacher in elementary school. yeah, i'm a nerd. but i haven't been able to read for pleasure in so long...it's rather sad.

anyway, yeung and i got some pearl milk tea too. i got mine hot...yum =) i sorta felt bad that yeung was coming along with me pretty pointlessly...he was done with shopping. but it was nice having our random conversation... and he got pearl milk tea! that has to be good, right? ;-) we got pretty nostalgic about our childhoods too...*sigh* he-man and being excited about christmas...

mike and i had a nice conversation later when i dropped off his gift too...it's sad how we're no longer as excited about christmas anymore. i remember waking up (and waking everybody else up) at some insanely early hour to open gifts. things just aren't the same anymore...i love my family, but i think christmas morning will forever be lacking now because we'll always seem incomplete now. i miss my dad. understatement. uh-oh, getting down now. plus i have to work tomorrow night...on christmas eve. i'm not christian, but christmas eve is family time...and i'm going to miss out on some of our annual christmas eve dinner with all the relatives. =\ not enjoying christmas as much anymore makes me feel jaded and old.

some things you're better off not thinking about. ignorance is bliss and all that jazz...too true. but dealing and living with the truth makes you stronger. i'd like my truths in little increments if possible though.

goodness...it's been a while. i'm barely ever online anymore! i'm either not home or my sister is already on and i don't have the energy to wrestle her down and take over the comp =)

so friday i baked cookies with jo and deb for some boys =P i didn't get to deliver them though because i had to do some super-speed-shopping--ended up with some ghetto gifts to give people =( so sorry! but i only had an hour and a half to buy presents for jo, jac, and cher since i knew i was going to see them that night...stupid work has been preventing me from doing any of my christmas shopping. hehe...i saw this really cute shirt for cher though...but it's neckline was...rather low..."navel-revealing" haha! then i was stuck at the mall with no ride...but mike came to my rescue! THANKS! it was sort of amusing...i was standing outside of macy's and i saw this car that looked like his, but after staring at the driver's face for like...five minutes, i decided it wasn't mike. then he honked and i looked again...and still thought it wasn't him until i saw this exasperated look on his face. "OHHH! hi mike!" haha...i'm sorry! i was looking for the hair and he was wearing a beanie. slightly caught up with mike, but we'll go hit up a bookstore or someplace stupid to finish our chat like usual =)

aaahh...and then it was time to be with my girls =) i felt really bad again because i had no time to wrap any presents since i was stuck at the mall, but i hope everyone liked their gifts! i liked all of mine ;-) thanks! we all went to "our place", aka macaroni grill...hehe. yay! elusive san showed up too! ehehe...time with my girls always makes me so happy =D even just thinking about it...i'm such a sap sometimes. hehe. jen and i drew some nice pictures for cher on the paper tablecloth of the girls and all our loves ;-) ask jen who bob is. back at cher's, we chilled under the "mistletoe" and played stupid games and ate and laughed like crazy...ah. all i can do to describe it is =D i love you girls! i'm getting weak though...fell asleep at like 2:30! that's ridiculous...i used to always be one of the ones who stayed up the latest...but i guess sleep deprivation is really catching up. almost went straight from there to work the next morning...sucked.

i think i now have a work-related injury. my right shoulder's killing me! i never knew placing sauces on plates was so strenuous. i need a masseuse. hah! like that's happening...i don't even want to think about how much money i spent last night at stoneridge finishing up my xmas shopping. i randomly ran into stan and dylan there too! so coincidental =) i dragged dave around for the last half of my shopping afterward since he wanted to hang out...that part couldn't have been that fun for him since i went through forever 21 and junk =) i think i finished shopping for everyone though...except for brandon. i was so frightened when i went through KB toys looking for his gift...finally just gave up. i think i'll go to toys r us tonight. i don't dare to give him clothes since i know he won't like it at all =P ten-year-olds.

then i went to hang out in exotic danville. ooooh. ;-) we walked around blackhawk shopping center...dang, that place is posh! there's this river running through the whole center from this waterfall...and yeah. expensive. they locked the gate on us too after a while! had to walk all the way around. ooh, the adventures of christina. then we dropped by j's place...haven't talked to him in forever! it was nice visiting =) afterward, dave and i hit up a closed cafe...they had already turned off the coffee machine. whoops. i got some nice hot chocolate though and dave utilized his new fakie... *cough*alchie*cough* =D we finished catching up...it was nice =) although i see him all the time anyway...fellow cardinal!

and now i'm tired. i noticed that all my blogs these days are rather...mundane. i think i'm too busy. no time to think anymore...besides, when you write about events in retrospect, feelings and random thoughts are glazed over a bit. and i think those are more important sometimes =) i've totally lost whatever little train of thought i had before...too many distractions and noises at home. i need to wrap presents. i need to deliver gifts. i need to sleep. actually...i need a shower right now. bye =)