How was everyone’s Christmas?

This was an odd year. I have a family reunion coming up, with about 50-70 of us on my Mom’s side going on a cruise from L.A. to Baja California and then back (not so much for this post, but seriously? Like I want to spend the 1 year anniversary of my most recent HELL stuck on a boat with lots of drunks?). So, my folks are coming out to see me on Friday and we’ll do a small Christmas morning on Saturday. I hope they like my gifts!

So this was my first year as a “grown up” having Christmas on my own, so to speak. It was nice, but weird. JS and I went to one of my family’s parties on Christmas Eve, and then spent a nice, quiet Christmas morning together at my place (with Tonks, of course). I don’t have any photos, but I’m soon to have video. Yes, you read correctly. Video. Because JS got me a mini DV camcorder!!! I’m so psyched. So psyched, in fact, that I’m reduced to using 90’s catch phrases. Tonks is soon to become an Internet star, and she’ll support JS and I in the lifestyle to which we will soon become accustomed.

Speaking of Tonks, she’s losing teeth like a mo-fo. I mean, seriously, I know that puppies grow incredibly fast. But this? Is getting ridiculous. I threw a fleece ball for her, and she brought it back to me, complete with a fresh tooth just lying on top. Then later, I found another under the coffee table! I think overall, it’s been about 4 teeth today alone. But, with that, she’s doing much better with the biting (of flesh, that is, not so much of my pants when I’m walking around the apartment).

For my birthday a few weeks ago, JS got me the Harry Potter box set (books) complete in their own Hogwarts trunk. I just finished re-re-reading (or something) book 7, and I’m constantly amazed at how wonderfully these books are written. JS just got HP and the Order of the Phoenix in HD, and as we watched it the other night, I made yet another connection. Mafalda Hopkirk is the woman that Hermione turns into when she, Ron, and Harry break into the Ministry in book 7, and she’s also the witch who writes the letter to expel Harry for using the Patronous Charm in book 5 (and, if I”m not mistaken, also the same witch who warns Harry about underage magic when Dobby uses the hover charm in book 2). Just another small detail that shows how incredibly detailed Rowling’s writing was. Another thing I took away from watching OoTP again is how great Emma Watson is as Hermione. The books constantly refer to Hermione as being breathless with either excitement, exasperation, or whatever, and Emma Watson manages to be breathless in any scene that Hermione might be emotional.

As soon as I figure out how to upload my cool new VIDEO, y’all have some fun (read: incredibly dull) movies of Tonks and my dead house plants to watch, so stay tuned!!!

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Dog, Harry Potter, Birthday

Tags: 10, 21, 25, 95

Remember when my puppy was a cute wee little thing?

Well, now she’s a Tazmanian Devil. She has learned how to bark. Yes. That’s right. Bark. Loudly. She seems shocked by that herself. Yesterday we had a Bad Dog day where she’d do EVERYTHING she could that broke the rules. She peed inside, after I took her out, while looking direcly at me. She’d bite me, then run away so I could scold her. Good times.

She also knows how to lean against her gate to push it over and try to escape.

But, in good news, she looks adorable in a santa hat.

As promised, here are some of my other Christmas photos. Yay! Christmas!

Christmas Joe Joes! YUM YUM!!!

Funky Red Ikea thingies…they look really cool in their $.97 vases.

Red Ornament Tree, with LIGHTS! I LOVE LIGHTS!

An overall view of my Christmas Wonderment.

AAAANNNND……a cute little Snowman box that holds a matching ornament. God I love Christmas.

Check out my Flickr page for more photos….I don’t want to use my free upload allotment so early in the season.

Tags: 10, 50, 67, 86

I love Christmas.

Love.

 Love love love love.

I love the decorations. I love the lights in windows. I love the ginger flavored cookies. I love the secrets. I love shopping for the perfect present. I love the smell of pine trees. I love the smell of baking. I love the music; O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas Song. I love the church services about the birth of Jesus. About the story of Mary - an unlikely teenage mother….to the son of God. I love the toddlers singing carols in church - the little boys staring into the distance or poking the kid standing next to them, the little girls pulling their dresses up over their heads.

I start early. November 1, and I’m ready to string up my lights and bust out my Christmas Fun playlist on my iPod. Most people wait until after Thanksgiving. My feeling is that one month is not NEARLY enough time to celebrate. I want to spend as much time as I can in the joy, the peace, the generosity. The good will. Also? My birthday is in the season. My mom always told me I was born on the first day of Christmas, but once I learned how to add (about a month or so ago), I realized she was a day off, but still. I claim the Partridge in the Pear Tree as MINE, bitch, so back off.

And yet, it’s also complicated. As for many people, the holidays can be a hard time. It’s the anniversary of a lot of bad times for me. I attempted suicide in December (it’ll be 10 years this year). Last year I was drugged and assaulted on New Years.

Somehow, it doesn’t bother me much (OK, not TOO much). I’m aware that I have a hard time this season. But I’m also aware that it’s in the past and that it isn’t my life now. Of course, this will be the first anniversary of my rape, and I’m not sure EXACTLY how I’ll react to it, but I feel confident. I have a good support system and I got into counseling ASAP, so I think I’m not into too much danger of developing bad thought patterns.

Plus, how can I stay in a moody mood when there are hot cocoas to drink and fuzzy socks to wear and babies with knit hats to oggle?