Week 15: That is Both Holly and Jolly!

Wow, I can’t believe I’m already back at the building! But it feels so good to be back in my own bed after Christmas break. I left around 3 on Wednesday the 19 with Morgan and Daniel (another car full of boys, sigh). It was fun though. They teased me for burning my tongue on a french fry and that I didn’t know what the “ halogen fluid” is in a car and how often I check it. (It doesn’t actually exist). I know nothing about cars!

Before we went home we went to see a house in Arroyo Grande who’s Christmas lights are all synced up to music! (I got special permission from Jen to do that)

I had planned on going to a BBQ with some of my college friends, but it didn’t work out so we went to Red Robin at 10pm. Afterwards, we went over to Alex’s house and played Phase 10 for, like, EVER! Well, at least until 2am.

I spent all day Saturday baking with my mom! We made Hot Cocoa Cookies, Peppermint Crumble Bars, Eggnog Cheesecake Bites, and Spritz Cookies! It was a lot of fun and I’m really glad I got to spend that time with my mom. We were the envy of Facebook after posting pictures of our finished treats.

Sunday after church, we went out to lunch with the Gerardi’s and McCuish’s to Applebees. Yummmm! That night I got to go roller skating with some friends. So much fun! Andrew and Jordan were both working. Andrew was working the DJ booth and Jordan was wiping water off the rink from the leaky ceiling. (it rained a lot the day before). I realized roller blade is a bazillion times easier than ice skating! Plus it doesn’t hurt as much when you fall! After skating, we all went to get something to eat at our fairly new Chipotle.

Kiwi attempting to steal presents.

Monday night, we went to the Christmas Eve service at Grace Baptist. I was totally expecting a normal manger and wise men kind of service, but Benji ended up talking about Joshaba and how God used pretty much a nobody in the Bible to basically save the line of David and Christmas all together. It was very interesting as I had never been to a Christmas Eve service that didn’t talk about Jesus’s birth.

Christmas was Tuesday! Ironically, my parents were the ones up and ready to open presents while my sister and I slept in. They had to come get us up before we slept till noon! We opened our stockings first (thanks Santa for the underwear…) and had Breakfast Casserole, one of my favorites!! For Christmas, I got a GPS (mostly because of the time I got lost in Fresno with Sara…), a bunch of jewelry, a program to help my learn to speak Spanish, and the most awesome t-shirt blanket, among other things. It was a really good day, getting to spend it with my family. We even got to watch a movie I gave to my parents calling Hearing Everett. It’s all about Ranch Sudo Mundo, the deaf school I went to in Mexico a few weeks ago.

Wednesday night, I had a little party with my friends. We played lots of board games and ate lots of food. My mom made us homemade hot chocolate, too. We all played Disney Apples to Apples for a long time before breaking off and playing different games like 5 Crowns and Clue. It was a great night.

Apples to Apples Disney style.

Driving to Sara's house.

I left at about 10 the next morning. We were going down to Thousand Oaks where Sara was going to pick me and Stephen up to stay at her house in San Bernardino for the last couple days of break. We got lunch at PrestoPasta before heading off to Sara’s house. We hit lots of traffic so it took a little longer to get there, but it was a fun trip. We got to her house and I changed so that we were all wearing the same thing (Sara and Stephen had accidently worn the same shirt that morning) ; red Hume flannel, cuffed jeans, and flip flops. Then we left to go get dinner at a Mexican restaurant where we met a few of Sara’s friends and we all came back to her house to eat. We played with card game called Mow Mow where every round the winner gets to add a new rule to the game. It was so frustrating trying to remember all of the rules! After her friends went home, we stayed up late talking before going to bed.

Morning faces....

Stephen's Christmas present.

The next day, headed out to a mall in Riverside. I should have brought my GPS because we got lost… but we finally found the exit and got to the mall. They had a C28 store (Christian clothing company)! We walked around Forever 21 and dressed up Stephen from the men’s section. Later, we got Italian food from the food court. It was really good, but I was so full afterwards! We saw a Thomas Kinkade Masterpieces store, maybe some dad I can take my dad! Sara and I ended up going crazy over earcuffs at Icing. Both of them had to drag me out of Bath and Body works. We finally got out of the mall and drove back to Sara’s house. We had a lap top party in her room for a while before going to BJ’s and getting some food. I got a Red Velvet Pizookie to-go. When we got back, we went outside and blew bubble pipes for a while. I have a firm belief that no one can be unhappy while blowing a bubble pipe! We talked for a bit before moving inside out of the cold. We shared bits and pieces of our testimonies until 2am.

Bubble pipes

Bubble pipes

Triplets!

Saturday, we got up around 8 to head back to Hume. Sara’s dad took us and Trevor up. We stopped at Bravo Farms for lunch, which was really cool. We got to try different cheeses and see turkeys and a giant tree house. It was a really neat place.

Now I’m back in the building and ready for the next chapter of Joshua, starting with New Year’s family camp!