Optimism Beats Pessimism Every Time

So here's a bummer for the day:

I went to the grocery store today and bought myself a bag of air, but when I opened it there were chips inside! I hate when they put chips in my bag of air.  It's irritating.

Ok ok here's the real bummer for the day:

I didn't get the scholarship to go to Italy in the spring. Sad, sad day.  BUT I am starting a new application for a different scholarship and am looking into doing an internship program in Italy in the spring, instead of the intensive language program the first scholarship was for.  SO, things are already looking up, and in the meantime I need to focus focus focus on finals.

Because after finals. . .  it's CHRISTMAS!

I bet you didn't already get this from my other recent blog posts, but I LOVE CHRISTMASTIME! and I am incredibly excited to be going home and spending this festive time with my family. 

Three weeks of holiday greatness, baby! Yeah!

That is all for today. I have a lot of work to do.

The sunshine is coming!

<3 Mel  

Dreaming of a Not-So-White Christmas

I wanted to write something clever today, perhaps something inspiring or important.  But all I can think to say is that I'm excited.

I am so excited.  This time of year is my favorite.  But you have finals and projects and hard things! you might say.  Yes, I do! I'll tell you why I'm excited about it.

I love the last week of classes and finals week. I'm finishing all the hard work I put in throughout the semester, I have established new friendships in my classes, I am nearing a new beginning, and it's Christmastime! I love that we work hard for a solid week and then feel an enormous release of tension as soon as our last test is concluded.  A three-week break with absolutely nothing to do! We can't have homework because we don't have classes! I can be completely free for three weeks.  I do not mind at all working hard and studying intensely for one week when that is my promised reward.

Not only am I free for three weeks, but I also get to go home! I get to return to San Diego and see my family, and spend all of my time with them. I get to participate in our Christmas traditions and go on a trip (this year we're going to San Francisco!), and fully enjoy the spirit of Christmas, without worry or stress.

Can you think of a better present?  I sure can't.

One tough week is so worth it.  And that's why I'm excited.

The sunshine is coming soon!

<3 Mel

More Lights, Camera, Christmastime!

More Christmas traditions I can't go without:

- We have a family Christmas party the Saturday before Christmas.  It is an enormous party, with my mom's entire extended family, mostly from her dad's side. We rent out the Boys and Girls Club building in Imperial Beach, CA, which isn't difficult considering my grandpa's name is on the building.  It is the J. D. Webb Boys and Girls Club.  He built it, through his construction company — he's really quite famous down in IB. Anyway, we rent out that building and everyone comes from all over Southern California. My mom's uncle and his family come from Arizona. We always have Mexican food — burritos, tacos, tamales, enchiladas — and lots of desserts.  Everyone brings something, or two or three things.  It is an incredible feast that I would never miss for the world. We all dress up really nicely, too.  (When we were young, our Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa were brand-new outfits for the Christmas party, so we got to open them early! That was awesome. Then we grew up and decided we could pick out our own clothes. . . you know how it is.) We pray before the meal and then everyone lines up in a buffet line and gets heaping plates of food.  We chat, laugh, enjoy each others' company and catching up with people we haven't seen since the Fourth of July (when we have our other enormous family party). My grandparents hire a DJ —because we're a family that knows how to party. Everyone gets out on the dance floor and we dance, eat, dance, and eat some more for hours. The only part my siblings, cousins, and I don't like is the cleanup.  This is one of my favorite nights.

- We spend Christmas day as a family.  We get up when Madelyn can't wait any longer. Somehow she always gets up early and then goes from room to room waking everyone else.  We aren't allowed to even think of getting up until after 7am, which has been moved to 7:30 in recent years.  But Madelyn is always the one to wake all of us. We go brush our teeth and make ourselves as presentable as possible (since we are all still in our pj's without makeup. . . a near tragedy for a house full of girls) and pose at the top of the stairs for a picture.  Madelyn always makes sure to capture the cat and hold his squirming, meowing body during the picture. Then we rush downstairs and converge on our Christmas tree, pulling out presents and handing them to their recipients. After all the presents are open and everyone has given hugs and 'thank yous' and 'you're welcomes' we have a big breakfast together. Sometimes Jerry makes waffles or pancakes and other times Mom makes her special homemade crème brulée French toast. We usually have sausage and eggs with our breakfast. Jerry makes our eggs special order — I get scrambled with cheese, Madelyn gets over-easy, Brooke gets over-medium, etc. We have a wonderful breakfast and wonderful day, listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies. This is one of my favorite days.

Christmastime, it's here!

<3 Mel

Lights, Camera, Christmastime!

Happy, joyous December 1st to everyone!

Christmastime is here.  I cannot believe it.  FOUR MORE classes this semester.

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  My family has so many traditions that I truly treasure.  Here are a few:

- We get our tree from the lot in front of Home Depot.  We spend a lot of time picking the very best one.  Then we tie it to the roof of the car and take it home. Jerry sets it up in its stand on the tiled corner of the family room, puts water in it, and covers the stand with a nice red tree skirt.  A Christmas CD plays on the computer.  First, Mom and Jerry string colored lights through the branches, distributing them evenly, carefully.  Then, each of us plunges into the four boxes of ornaments and begins placing them strategically on the tree's limbs.  Brooke, Madelyn, and I put what we consider the "ugly" ones on the back of the tree, where they can't be seen.  This is one of my favorite nights.

- We go see the Holiday of Lights display at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.  Enormous structures of lights surround the racetrack, and the cars drive around the track, experiencing them all.  Back when Jerry had his old Chevy truck, he would bring it home the day we were going to Holiday of Lights.  First, we would go to the Starbucks in Del Mar, always the same one, and get hot chocolates.  Then we would drive to the fairgrounds and wait in the long line of cars to get in.  Once we made it to the front and paid, we would enter the Holiday of Lights.  Quickly, Jerry would put the truck in park and all of us kids would jump out of the cab and climb into the pickup bed, where we had laid out blankets to sit on.  Jerry would start driving again, as we sat in the bed—sipping hot chocolate, feeling the cool breeze, watching the incredible light displays, laughing together.  (Nowadays we do everything the same, except for the truck which we no longer have.  We have to enjoy our hot cocoa and the lights from inside our SUV). This is one of my favorite nights.

More traditions to come. . .

<3 Mel