Merry Christmas

Ahhhh!  December 25th.  A day filled with family and joy.  A day full of laughter and squeals of delight.  Of holiday music and hugs.  Joking about what Santa brought and sorting out each person's gifts. Waiting for the reaction when my sister opens the gift I got her; that perfect gift that she's not expecting but will truly love.  Watching White Christmas and whatever other movie one of my family members received.  All of these things made up my Christmas day this year, as they have made up so many of my past Christmases.  I can honestly say that today was a great day.  It wasn't a day where I wore a super-cute outfit or looked awesome.  I didn't leave the house and definitely didn't accomplish anything spectacular.  But I got to spend time with my family, the people I love most in the world.  It's weird to think that these Christmases together may become more rare.  I try to truly appreciate them because of this.  For instance, one of the best parts was helping Mom fix popcorn as my family got ready to watch White Christmas (it's a classic!!).

I also got some great gifts today, and I feel like I need to gush somehow!  My stocking was stuffed with an iTunes giftcard (perfect for the soundtrack/musical songs that I've been wanting to buy), the Dark Knight DVD, a sparkly red headband, and Hershey's Kisses (a win for sure!).  My lil sis got me two sets of earrings, which was one thing on my list.  I have two piercings in each ear but had no good matching earrings to wear.  One set, which is pink and purple-ish, has two different sizes of studs and matching rose earrings.  The other set has dangly earrings to match the studs, though these are in different shades of silver.  I love both sets and definitely plan to take them with me when I study abroad.  Krista got me black running shorts with pink and white trim at the bottom; I wanted running clothes, so they are perfect!  She also got me an iTunes card (which is awesome because I burn through these so quickly!).  My favorite gift from her is two pairs of socks.  Honestly.  One is red, and one is grey.  But both pairs have tons of miniature Scottish terriers on them!  Scottie dog socks; you can't get any cooler than that!  Mom got me a plum sweater from American Eagle (I picked this out.  I have a white one just like it and absolutely love it, so I am super excited about my new one).  From Dad I got a red v-neck with KKY in gold letters.  It's gorgeous!  And I've been wanting more clothes with my letters on them (I'm in Kappa Kappa Psi, a national band service fraternity).  I can't wait to wear it.  My big gift, though, took the cake; a pink Canon Powershot digital camera.  IT'S PINK!  And I love pink (hence the first part of the name of this blog).  I also love taking pictures, and this camera is great!  It has all the fancy features, like color accent and special settings for fireworks, foliage, etc.  Plus, this one has greater zoom abilities than my old Canon camera (which I literally loved to death-it's so scratched and beat up).  But I made a promise to myself to take good care of my new camera!

So, as the minutes are ticking down to end this Christmas day, I just want to recognize how blessed I am.  I could not ask for a better family.  I have so many wonderful opportunities, and I've met so many amazing people who have changed my life for the better.  I hope that everyone's holidays are as blessed as mine.

Simply replaced

That's how I feel; like I've just been replaced.  Not enthusiastically.  Maybe not even intentionally.  But my (former) roommate (who is no longer my roommate due to the fact that I am studying abroad next semester) now has a new roommate.  And I can't say I'm a huge fan.  Not of the new girl.  Trust me, I've already Facebook-crept and she definitely looks nice enough.  But I hate that I'm no longer Jennifer's roommate.  I can't tag her in our adorable photos saying "Roomie <3" like I usually do.  And we'll still have our jokes, but she and her new roommate (the new ME, in all essence) will have their jokes, too.  I try not to be a jealous person, but I'm definitely wish that Jennifer could have our room all to herself, so Chelsey could still come and nest in the room, like the good old days.  But life goes on with or without me.

The frustrations

As of right now, I am so frustrated with myself.  I'm back from college (on break) and am going into my usual moody semi-depression that always occurs when I'm away from my besties at school.  Though I felt that this break was better than the past.  This, however, is not the case.  I've been home for about 2 and a half days, and I've already managed to make my mom cry.  Seriously.   It all started because I feel that my family keeps babying me; they keep asking me if I'm cranky and if everything is alright.  Apparently I just always have a sour look on my face (which I 100%-honest-to-God did not realize).  It just drives me insane.  And my twin sister, also back from college, keeps saying things like, "You should do this..." or "You could do this..." or "Why don't you do this...".  Thank you.  At one point in my life, I probably needed that.  Not even joking.  I needed someone to tell me what to do.  But now, after a year and a half of college (on my own, by MYSELF), I feel that this is not only unnecessary but also extremely demeaning and frustrating.  This morning, at church of all places, my family was going on about how cranky I was (though I had just finished having a rather cheerful conversation with my sister about Christmas movies).  So, being frustrated and angry, as well as on the verge of tears myself, I sat down and sent a text as my Facebook status about how I wanted to be back at Ames.  When my mom saw this status a few hours later, she cried.  And, according to my fabulous, "mini-mom" sister, talked about kicking me out.  She also removed me as a friend on Facebook.  Even after going to her room and apologizing, I still feel like a horrible person.  Most likely because I am.  Which sucks, because everyone at school always tells me how nice I am.  And I usually scoff it off.  Now I have a real reason.  So, we are sitting at T-minus 5 days until Christmas, and I definitely am deserving of some coal.  I feel like I've regressed  to my bratty 6th-grade self who tried my best to pick arguments with my mom.  Great.  I get angry because I feel like my family doesn't realize how much I've grown and then chose the most infantile reaction to this anger.  Can you say hypocrite?