“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”

~Alex Haley

If you were to walk around my mom's house and look at the pictures, sooner or later you would see a picture of my brothers, sister, and I gathered with our cousins and our great-grandmas. All of us are younger in the picture, and my great-grandmas are still living... it is a link to my youth, though I cannot remember what that younger me was thinking or feeling at the time. To be honest: It probably doesn't matter. It is a link to my past, a link to my family, and a reminder that those who are with us now, may not be later.

This Christmas has far been one of those great Christmases.

In my opinion it has been better than last years. Last year's holiday felt rushed and restless, and while I enjoyed seeing my family it left me feeling at the time that I would be lucky later when I'm married and wouldn't have to put up with this internal conflict of: "I have to spend Christmas Eve with Dad, then I have to spend Christmas with Mom." And I certainly wouldn't have to deal with feeling as though I somehow have managed to upset or disappoint one of them with whatever decision I had made.

Thankfully, this Christmas wasn't quite like that-- though I did wait until the morning of Christmas Eve home into the mountains. The morning of Christmas Eve, I somehow managed to sleep until 8:00am. I say until because most of the time, I can only sleep 'til 7:30am at the latest. And on most weekdays, I'm not even able to do that. Waking up, I packed and was ready to go by 8:30am. Driving 32 during the winter can be a bitch with all of its twists and turns, and I was being careful to avoid black ice. I was the only one on the road, and I was able to drive up into the mountains at a safe speed.

Arriving in Chester, I drove to my mom's house where I picked up my little sister and wrapped the gift for my dad and step-mom. After that I drove to my dad's, where I spent the remainder of the day hanging out with my family and my family's friends. This was all right because I got to spend more time with my step-brother and his new wife (it was the first time that I had seen them since their wedding in April). I really enjoy spending time with my step-brother, though I have only seen him a handful of times throughout the last few years. His wife is also amazing, and I liked spending time with both of them this Christmas because while I had seen them back in April, I feek that I haven't really gotten to know her well. So getting to spend a few more hours with both of them was great, and each time that I see them together, the thought that he chose well remains.

While I enjoyed spending time with my step-brother and his wife, I also enjoyed spending time with the rest of my dad's part of the family. We exchanged a few gifts, I gave him and my step-mom "Salt," and they gave me "Inception", a new CD case which will be used for my vast collection of DVDs, and some money. For Christmas Eve dinner we had Enchiladas, and some of their friends joined us for dinner. Dinner was amazing, for dessert we had lemon meringue (Dad learned after I had harped on him about the lack of lemon meringue for Thanksgiving), then we attended church together as a family. Afterward, we went back to my dad's house for a little Christmas party, where many of my step-brother's friends joined us. My step-brother dressed as Santa Claus for the children at the party, and his version of "Santa" while friendly also seemed extremely saracastic and cop-like... most likely a result of him attending the police academy. After watching "Santa", my sister and I left for my mom's.

The night of Christmas Eve, I spent a little time visiting with family. My mom's brother had came up with his family, which meant I got to visit with my cousin who had been living in Arkansas, whom I hadn't seen for a couple of years. My youngest brother was also there and I subjected myself to many of his rude comments. I allowed these to slide off my back while other family was around, but once it was just our immediate family, I lit into him. I told him, "I might be the biggest dork in the family, but at least I'm not a freeloader." I know it wasn't the nicest thing to say, but in that moment I had had it with his constant belittling. After we argued, he left for a little while, then came back. I didn't have anything more to say to him for the rest of the night, nor would I apologize for saying what I said. Unfortunately, I feel that this added a little bit of tension in the way that I related with him on Christmas.

Christmas came and we had to wait a while before opening presents, my younger brother hadn't got back to Chester yet. He had spent most of his night driving back from L.A., why the hell he had gone to L.A. and waited until that night to drive back, I have no idea. Once he got here, we opened presents. I gave my mom some candles that I had bought from one of OHS's students for a fundraiser, and I recieved a box of old ties, a few white t-shirts, an altimeter (measures altitude), binoculers, and a new digital camera. The digital camera is really nice, and I think next year I am going to try my hand at photography-- just as a hobby. The rest of the day, I spent hanging out with my mom's side of the family-- my aunt and uncle, cousins, grandparents, my mom and her boyfriend, and my sister. My brothers were also around a little, though my brother who had driven all night slept most of the day, while my youngest brother did-- I don't know what.

Overall, it was nice spending the day with family... now if my brothers had not been rude and belittled me-- it would have been perfect.