Merry Christmas!

Well, the Christmas season will end in just over an hour from the time I am writing this sentence. It always surprises me when it comes and goes--but when I think about Thanksgiving, which was just a month ago, it seems like a long time ago.

I had an eventful week preparing for this holiday. On Monday I went to my singles ward's Christmas party. It was a white elephant exchange. Someone brought a BYU shirt and a non-BYU fan got it. He was trying to convince people to steal it--so I did. Then he got a basket with pinecones. He was wanting the shirt back. It's a mite big for me--but it's better than anything else I would have got at the party.

On Wednesday we had a work party. They gave us Subway and those plastic candy canes filled with candy. Since most of us had to clock out for this and there wasn't a whole lot of work, they sent a bunch of us home early. I used my free time to go Christmas shopping. I couldn't find anything suitable for my mom, but after I got my niece's present, I was ready to go, either home or to another store, but my car wouldn't start. So I called my folks and left messages, and while I waited to hear back, I wandered the stores and was able to finish my shopping. My mom picked me up, and then we went later to try to jumpstart the car. That didn't work, and even the tow truck driver couldn't jumpstart it.

I drove my mom's car to work on Thursday. (Actually, all of our cars, including "mine," belong to my parents--they're just awesome enough to let me use them.) At our weekly meeting, they told us we would start work at 6:00 the next morning (Friday) with the goal of getting out as soon as possible. But an hour or so later, one of the leads told me to take Friday off! (After working five Saturdays in a row, it was about time...) Which meant a four day weekend! I don't remember the last time I got one of those! That night we saw my visiting uncle, Paul, who was sporting a ridiculous ponytail. (I actually don't like talking about hair...it's one of my many weird psychological traits. Perhaps I'll tell you about it some time...)

On Friday I went to go running. My months of darkness and overtime have prevented me from this exercise, and I have become out of shape, lazy, and apathetic. I only lasted a measly seven minutes before I stopped. Seven minutes! I could do better than that sixty pounds ago! Oh, well. That night I went to a homecoming party for an old friend in the neighborhood, Hillary Ulmer, who went to my mission (but not at the same time as me and not the same language, either).

Yesterday, Christmas Eve, we went to go out to lunch with my sister's family. "My" car was leaking transmission fluid, so we didn't take it. Keep in mind that the only driving it got was home from the mechanic and for the quick jaunt to my failure run. They'd better fix it! In the evening we watched White Christmas and then my mom made food for Christmas, while I tried to help. Per tradition, I slept downstairs, and watched a very weird 80s-esque film on BYU TV that involved a little Hawaiian girl whose dad was laid off and a mysterious wreath lady who kept disappearing. Christmas brings out both the best and the worst in movies.

Christmas is not about getting, but I'll tell you what I got anyway. I got a GPS. That is a bit of a boring present, but it is one that will really help me--I have a real knack for getting lost. I got two CDs, Taylor Swift's Speak Now (don't judge me!) and the Black Eyed Peas' The Beginning. I looked up the lyrics for the Peas album, and exactly half of the songs fit my music-listening standards--which means I'll rip the clean songs to my computer, and I'll have no need to listen to the CD. (I didn't look up Taylor's lyrics, but I don't worry so much about her.) And my sister continued her perfect streak of odd gifts since I've been home from my mission by getting me a ball to make ice cream.

My singles ward didn't have church today so I went to the good ol' Orchard 11th Ward. Sacrament meeting was...interesting. It was long, like an hour and a half. Which I don't find too big of a deal, since that's the only meeting we had. But there were some poor choices. We had two older people sing, one of whom has sung "O Holy Night" every year for as long as anyone can remember. A few years ago he abandoned having an accompanist because he just makes up his own tempo (and tune) and he also makes up his own words. There were somewhat long readings--one about the life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow before he wrote "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." That was OK, I guess... But the other one was a long passage from A Christmas Carol. I love the Dickens story as much as anyone else, but I didn't think it was fitting for sacrament meeting--especially the part they read, about Jacob Marley appearing to Scrooge and telling him about how he had to wander the earth. That doesn't fit our doctrine! Not to mention that they chose this over certain elements of the Christmas story, such as Simeon and Anna or the Nephites' day and night and day as if it had been one day. Maybe I'm just too cynical.

We went to my grandparents' house. Usually I don't play video games on Sunday, but I forgot what day it was so I played Wii with my cousins when they invited me. (I don't regret it or think it was inappropriate.) I actually won the Mario Party game, due primarily to luck.

Then tonight we watched It's a Wonderful Life. This is a wonderful movie. But one of the show's themes, no man is a failure who has friends, isn't entirely comforting for people like me who have no friends...only kidding, of course...

This year, as I have read the Christmas story both personally and with my family, I have felt the proverbial calm in the "Silent Night" song. And we always read the Christmas story--but I learned I really need to apply the "goodwill toward men" part.