"White Christmas" is the most depressing Christmas song ever. You know why? Because today I wore shorts.

Here it is, the obligatory post of the Home-for-the-Holidays variety. This Christmas saw a small gathering of only 13 people crammed into the house (which, this year, was not ours, but an aunt's). Much festive cheer, merry making, over-cooking, over-eating, nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, couching, aching* fun was had. A few of the highlights:

Finding out that my Paupa is a closet pool shark, and was once known (in his much younger days) as Michigan Fats (bonus points if you catch the allusion - I didn't).

Having fun with my mother in all her too tall, too loud, too crazy glory.

Playing approximately 1200 games of Bitch Rummy with my little brother and sister. And kicking their asses Every. Single. Time. Seeing the crushed spirits in my sister's eyes after I lay down 4 aces is a joy which can be rivaled only by the fact that I won one game by a margin of 465 points.

Food. Oh, my god, food.

Devising elaborate puzzles, scavenger hunts, and other games which family members must go along with in order to find/open/figure out their present.

Finding out the title of the next HP 7: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." *overwhelming amount of fangirl squee-age* Mild disappointment: my family living in the middle of slow dial up internet hell, causing me to find out about said title almost a week after the fact. I am a disappointment to the fandom, and I am sorry. It won't happen again. Rest assured that now that I have returned to the land of DSL, my obsessive HP news hoarding has begun again and is soaring to all new heights.

Going to the skating rink for the first time in 3 years and realizing yeah, i still got it. And then realizing that my siblings most emphatically do not. But sometimes it's more fun to fall anyway.

Spending the last couple hours before I fell asleep each night talking with JB. It's odd how talking over the phone can often prompt more profound and thought-provoking conversation than talking in person. Good talks, buster, good talks.

I watched football and knew exactly what was going on.

Realizing that though I'm not in the same place I was last year (far from it, actually), I am still happy, despite considerable changes in my life. And all through those changes, my crazy, dysfunctional, wonderful family has remained crazy, dysfunctional, and wonderful. I'm glad some things will never change.

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday. New Year's Eve is coming up - preparing another list-type post recapping the year and getting all nostalgic-like.

*stuffy-head fever, so you can rest and have a good morning medicine.