Christmas was a success! I got some really good stuff and my family had a really good time!

Tomorrow I return to Davis because I have to work. I wish I could stay longer at home. =[

I don't want break to end, but I do want my friends to return. I don't like living alone when there is no one in town! Chris and I were supposed to spend New Years Eve together, but he's sick and his parents are requiring that he stay home until break ends. So I guess I'm spending it alone again this year! I work that night anyway, so I'll probably just go to bed when I get home and sleep in the next day.

Tonight I bonded with my cousin's daughter Izzy...who I guess is my cousin once removed or something. Whatever. She's like 3 years old and I'm really terrible with kids, mostly because I can't communicate with them. Today while at my relative's house I was playing my DS and Izzy comes up and asks if she can play. Of course, she doesn't have the motor or comprehension skills necessary to play The Legend of Zelda, but I let her play the game anyway, tapping on the screen and such (she totally made me die and now I have to redo an entire level again *sigh*). She started to get scared of some of the creatures, so I switched it over to Pictochat and let her doodle. When she got tired of that, we built towers out of these colored cardboard blocks she had. It was an interesting bonding experience since I've never connected with a person that young before.

Ah yes a typical Dickason Christmas: happy, happy, happy, something goes wrong, someone gets angry and yells, everyone else gets upset, awkwardness the rest of the night. I love my family, but I don't understand why everyone gets so upset. Accidents happen! Why can't they just laugh it off?

That said, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I worked today (Christmas Eve) and boy was it kah-raaaazy!! Sooo many people buying stuff! And everyone wants stuff wrapped! Do they really not have the time to wrap gifts themselves? ANYWAY, it was crazy and I was really frustrated at the end, but now I am home and waiting for Santa to come. YAY SANTA.

Last night I watched Pride and Prejudice with my family (the 6-hour A&E version!) and drank hot chocolate. Yay for Christmas traditions! Tonight we watched A Christmas Carol.

I talked to my parents about studying abroad last night and they seemed to really support the idea! Before when I'd brought up the idea they'd told me it was too expensive, so I don't know what prompted them to change their minds. Anyway, the program I'm interested in is in Germany, and the class is The Roaring Twenties in Germany. I want to go sooo bad!

SAN DIEGO IS SO EXCITING!

I drove down to San Diego with Ashley on Monday. We got up suuuuper early and left at 5:30. We stopped only about three times for gas and Starbucks =] and arrived around 1-ish. We made really good time! Traffic was pretty clear the entire way except for when we passed through LA, but there is always traffic in LA. We listened to the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets audiobook, which really helped the time pass.

When we arrived at her house we just sat around the rest of the day because we were tired from the drive. We also went to bed early and slept for 12 hours. That felt really nice!

The next day we went to the (World Famous) San Diego Zoo! We spent about 4 hours going all around and looking at the animals. I took lots of pictures and we had a really good time. I forgot how much fun going to the zoo is! Later that night we went out to dinner with the rest of her family (sans Jason because he's still in Sacramento).

I flew home this afternoon and spent the rest of the day with Gabriel. We made cookies and watched Mean Girls. What a great day!!