Excessive

Well I've been putting this off forever... well, not forever, but almost the entire month, with pictures and information just building up and I always have to choose between playing WoW or writing an entry, and I always seem to pick WoW. But I can't play WoW right now because I have to wind down and get ready for bed because I have work in the morning, so what's more draining than writing about an entire month. I'll try to sum up the major happenings, and include lots of pictures.

Way back on December 8th, Ally and James came over to do our family 'putting up of the Christmas tree' which was an annual event established by the Ally and Jordan Are Friends For Life committee last year. The night must contain egg nog, ketchup chips, some form of a Christmas movie, and putting up the tree to some kind of Christmas carol. We stuck mighty close to those guidelines and we ended up having quite the fun night. I made deviled eggs for everyone to enjoy, and bought some eggnog, which only myself and James drank (but it's good to have once a year). I put on the Sufjan Stevens five disc Christmas album to listen to during the festivities... it's quiet and peaceful, so it's not intrusive, and I enjoy it, so that's all that matters. During the rest of the year I keep the Christmas tree in it's box in the corner of my dining room (if you could call it that), so I rearranged the living room quickly by pushing the couch over and moving the end table and lamp to the other side, and that's where we set up the tree (same as last year). We worked together to put it together and spread all the little parts of it, and took turns putting on the decorations, and finally put the lights on and turned it on and it was pretty! We did a good job setting it up, and it really helped make it feel like Christmas.

Once the tree was set up, I let everyone try the Xbox Live Arcade game Marble Blast Ultra, which is basically Monkey Ball but not for six year olds. We ended up playing the game a lot, taking turns on levels and trying to get good leaderboard rankings. It turned out to be a lot of fun and we played for quite a while. As the night went on, we all got pretty tired, so Ally and James left and that was that. It was a fun time, and the best way to put up a Christmas tree that I can think of. It's a tradition I hope we can keep going for many years to come, and I'm sure it'll evolve and change and it'll always be a lot of fun.

This is us in front of the tree, taken by myself (horrible aim).

A few days before Christmas Eve, I went to Masonville with Bridget (from work) and bought a lot of my gifts, and bought my present for Linzie (and went and visited her at her work). The next day she came over after shopping with Michelle, and we exchanged presents. She got me a Pot of Gold, which I love because it makes desserts a no-brainer. For her, I bought her an entire 4L ice cream bucket full of candy from the Bulk Barn. She loved it!

So I guess that brings us to Christmas eve as the next important thing to talk about. My family and I decided to have the gathering at my house this year (basically I just bugged my Mom until she gave in) and I was really excited about this, as I've never hosted anything (that I remember) for my family, and they never come in or sit down or anything, so it gave me a chance to show them that my house can be very comforting. Anyway, after I found out that I'd be hosting, I decided to make a bunch of snacks for everyone to eat while we sat around, so I bought a few things and used some things I already had and... made a bunch of snacks! Everyone was coming over at 7pm, so at 6:30pm I got up and got everything ready... I made deviled eggs (the same way as when Ally came, but this time I put dill in the yoke, and a tiny bit on top as a garnish). I also made pumpernickel bread with spinach dip, a bowl of 50% reduced salt chips and ketchup chips, cheese and crackers and some grapes.

Here they are!

It was a lot of fun to make and set up and try to make look nice, and everyone complimented me and enjoyed the food (even my Mom ate some!) and it felt really good. Anyway, I should probably talk less about the food and more about the night itself. My Mom, Lindy, Dustin, Michelle and myself were there, and we got together to exchange gifts, listen to Christmas music, and just spend time together in the spirit of Christmas tradition. There were so many presents under the tree for everyone, it was crazy! There were way more than I expected. Both Lindy and I bought over 10 presents for everyone (just about) and then when you add Michelle and Dustin and my Mom, that's a lot of presents. Everyone had a lot of fun exchanging gifts, I got almost everything on my list... my Sister got me a ton of stuff that I love, stuff like zip-lock bags, food wrap, tinfoil, parchment paper, toothpaste, just tons of stuff that make me feel comfortable (it's hard to explain). We all agreed to buy gifts at the dollar store, so that there would be a lot of gifts to exchange, and that's what we did. I can't remember every single thing I got or gave, but I do know that my Mom walked away with the most stuff, and she was really excited to get so many things. I got my Sister a notepad type journal thing, two datebooks, a pen, a bunch of candles, some sponges... that's all I remember right now. I got my Mom cans of tomatoes and tri-color rotinni, a pad of paper with a magnet on it, lots of sponges, a nice mug with a butterfly on it, swiffer pads... I'm sure there was more but again, I can't remember everything now. Michelle and I also exchanged gifts at the same time... I got her two boxes of chocolate covered cherries (one of her favorite desserts), two boxes of the name brand granola bars, a nice mug with hearts on it, Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations and Pheonix Wright: Justice For All (both DS games if you didn't know). As for me, Michelle got me a subscription to EGM (that I'm scared either won't get delivered or it'll get stolen cause our mailbox is a piece of crap), the December issue of Games For Windows magazine (which I really, really liked, I<3Jeff Green), Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for DS, and another long sleeved shirt for work (which I wear everyday). The gift exchanging portion of the night went very well, everyone had a lot of fun, everyone was smiling and it was exactly what I look forward to every year, just to see my family smile because of a bunch of stuff bought at a dollar store... it's awesome.

After we exchanged presents, it was actually my Mom's idea for all of us to play Guitar Hero, so I turned it on and we all took turns. I was.. the best.. but.. yeah, Michelle and Lindy are about equal and my Mom and Dustin are about equal (they couldn't quite make it through a song on easy). It was a lot of fun to watch everyone though, and we all laughed and had fun.

For Christmas day we decided to have a dinner at my Moms house, and I would cook. We bought a 12lb turkey, red potatoes, corn, veggies, pickles and olives, and my Mom baked a pumpkin pie. I cooked dinner in my Grandpa's (now mine I guess) countertop convection oven. It took about three and a half hours, and it turned out amazing! The turkey was so moist, more moist than I'd ever tasted turkey, and everything else was awesome too. It was probably the first time after a big meal like that, that I got up and made a second plate. Michelle couldn't spend the day with us because she had her own family's Christmas to take part in, so that was where she was. We spent the time after supper to just sit around and talk... it was an enjoyable day, and I had a lot of fun cooking the meal for everyone, and everyone gave me a lot of compliments (even though my Mom helped a bunch).

This was our first Christmas without Grandpa, and while it was pretty difficult, especially Christmas day, I think we did well to keep his spirit alive, and we cooked what he would've wanted to eat, and we tried our best to have the best time we could. This has been one of my favorite Christmas's in a long time, and I really appreciate everyone involve for making it such a good time.

I guess with Christmas out of the way, I can talk about other things in my life that aren't related. The first three weeks of December at work were really crazy... lunch buffets for over 100 every day, dinners at night, sometimes two, there was never a second to relax... well that's all over. Nothing is going on at work, we just kinda stand around and look for stuff to do, and it's such a refreshing change, such a nice break. It can be a tiny bit boring at times, but that's okay. So work right now is really easy and laid back, and it should stay that way for awhile. My schedule is a bit messed up at work though, thanks to all the holidays, so things don't feel quite right at the moment, but I think I'm dealing with it pretty well, although some would say you could tell I'm a bit stressed out, or 'off'... but when am I not I guess. I worked yesterday (Saturday) and then go to work tomorrow (Monday) but then have Tuesday off, then work again the next saturday, so I don't get two days off in a row for a couple weeks, and I just got off a 5 day break from work, so things feel pretty weird for me right now, and that's generally not a good thing for me, I like normal things, routine, boringness.

I made a turkey stew with the leftover Christmas turkey (or was it.. thanksgiving!?). It was the first time I made a stew (I've attempted soup before but failed), so I was pretty unsure of what I was doing. I ended up making it just a tiny bit too thick, but holy crap was it good. It seriously tasted like it had come out of a major brand name can of soup. It was chicken broth, celery, carrots, onion, turkey, with some dill and parsley. I then thickened it to make it all stew-like, and holy crap it was good. I froze a tiny bit to see if it would thaw well, and it wasn't as nice as fresh (a bit chunky) but it still tasted good. I'm going to make some more tomorrow and freeze it all, simply because the turkey is going to go bad soon, and it would be really nice to have a nice supply in the freezer for whenever I felt like soup. I wish I had pictures to show you, but sadly I don't have the camera anymore. I also made tomatoes today, but I always do that.

I've been playing World of Warcraft a lot lately, and so has Michelle. I've got up to level 46 with my Priest, and I've got my mount and around 120 gold. We've just finished Stranglethorn Vale and have made Tanaris our home for the next five or six levels, and it's all quite exciting to get this far. It won't be long until we move into outland and really get into it. I haven't been playing 360 lately because of my WoW playing, so not much to talk about there. I have been playing my PSP and DS though, I've been playing Revenant Wings before bed, usually just a mission or two at a time, but so far it's a lot of fun, especially considering I liked the 'feel' of FFXII so much, but I can see where some of the criticism came from in the reviews, especially regarding unit management and camera issues, but since there really isn't a game like it for a console or handheld that I've played, I think it's fine. Maybe managing my units will get more difficult as the game goes on and things get more complicated, but as of right now, I can deal with the minor annoyances (like if you give a unit an order to move or attack something, you automatically deselect that unit so you have to find it on the screen and select it again... wtf?). So... lots of WoW when I'm not working, and Christmas has been great.

I'm a Shadow Priest, that's why my mount and I are all shadowy and mysterious.

Oh yeah, and I'm saving up for a really nice TV, so I'm probably not going to be buying a game for a couple months, so wish me luck.

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