Christmas Past

  I have so many childhood memories of Christmas when I was little, I thought I'd share a few.  I'm sure they're totally ordinary memories that most kids would share, but sentimental nonetheless.  So in no particular order, I'll list some.

  Now of course I have memories of opening presents, rubbing lipstick off my cheeks from over affectionate family members that only saw me once a year, and singing messed up versions of carols with siblings and friends.  Those are nice and everything but here are a few that really stuck with me.

  First off, I totally believed in Santa until I was about 10 or 11.  I had friends who didn't believe who had parents that encouraged the logical thinking aka lack of imagination (in my opinion).  I'd had many a heated argument with my non-believing friends that was not entirely unlike a religious debate.  I was a kid with some pretty stubborn convictions.  My parents were really good at making the whole Santa thing convincing.  We used to put out cookies and carrots (for the reindeer) and find them on Christmas morning with bites taken out of them.  That, to child me, was indisputable scientific evidence right there.  I officially stopped believing around the time my age hit double digits, I don't remember a specific moment I stopped; I think it was just a gradual painless realization.

  A few other Santa related memories include: My mom dressing me and my siblings in nice clothes that were all velvet and long sleeved as if it was cold outside (hah!) and dragging us to the mall to wait in a theme park sized line to take pictures with Santa.  I always found mall Santas to be a little creepy... They sit on a throne of lies (Elf!!).  Also, I remember being maybe 4 or so when I had a HUGE epiphany.  It was the perfect loophole!  I could be bad, and Santa would give me clothes instead of toys BUT I would still get good presents from my other family members.  Then my mom said she would just tell everyone I was bad and make sure they didn't get me anything.  Dammit.  I lost my case.

  One of the best parts of the season is the lights.  My siblings and I had the tradition of screaming "CHRISTMAS LIIIIGHTS" at the top of our lungs when we went by a lit up house.  A fair amount of houses were decorated so driving through any given neighborhood was potential hell for our parents.  Luckily for them, if we did it too much, they had the power of turning on loud Tejano music until we begged them to turn it down and promised to be quiet the whole way home. Good times...

  I also remember going to Ma and Pa's for Christmas.  They were my grandparents and their house always smelled like cigarettes.  To me, it just smelled like their house and never really bothered me too much.  I remember when Ma got Bria a box of spiders, and me a bag of snakes.  That was pretty awesome cause we got like every specie of snake and spider.  They were plastic by the way.  Did you think my own grandmother actually gave me live poisonous snakes for Christmas??  Wow, you're terrible.

  Hah!! And then there was my great aunt who had the wooden letters N O E L on her mantel.  Only problem was, she arranged them to say NOLE.  My dad rearranged them only to have her switch them back.  Hahahah so stupid.  We even have photographic evidence.  It's priceless.

  I also remember breaking a few fragile glass ornaments before my parents figured out that small children = nice ornaments go out of reach on the tree.  I remember being pretty small and deciding to hold the ornament and it slipped out of my hands and shattered into a million glittery pieces.  Broken Christmas ornaments always remind of me of The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Saw that movie when I was 2 years old and it still makes a lasting impression on me.  But back to the ornament incident, I did what every 4 year old did when they break something; I walked away at a pretty fast pace.

  The great thing about Christmas is that is doesn't lose its charm as you get older, it just kind of changes.  I look forward to it every year, and every year I'm convinced it was the best Christmas ever.  I hate being cheesy about it, but there's really no way around that. :)

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Emotional Education

  This was my final essay for Composition 1 and I wanted to share it with everyone.  I made a 90 on it, and I'm pretty proud.  The subject is something very meaningful to me. ♥

My Emotional Education

     Like most of my peers, my first responsibility—my first “job”—was focusing on school: studying, reading, and memorizing.  Many of my friends were like me, channeling some of their energy toward fleeting romantic relationships, ever searching for the “right” person.  As I worked apprehensively toward college, my academic education gave way, replaced by my “other” education—my emotional education.  Like David Brooks, Op-Ed Columnist for the New York Times, I feel that “our emotional educations are much more important to our long-term happiness and the quality of our lives” than our scholastic ones. Indeed, the lessons I have learned from this alternative curriculum, as Brooks calls it, my “byproduct(s) of the search for pleasure”, have undeniably altered my path through life.

     A few fleeting years ago, I had the basic insecurity of a teenager, afraid that if I didn’t meet that “special someone”, I might possibly end up spending my adult life alone.  This, in retrospect, was not a mature, realistic approach.  It was my 15-year-old brain reeling from an immature assumption that life emulates the movies—find your true love and live happily ever after.   

     As I got older, I came to the conclusion that a boyfriend wasn’t really needed—this nicety wasn’t a necessity.  I no longer worried about romantic relationships, and began channeling my mental energy toward bettering myself through a traditional education.  I had friends, family, and even pets to support me—I did not need a romantic encounter to feel “complete”.

     My emotional education commenced during summer vacation, 2008.  James was painfully shy, and seemed to reflect my hesitation when it came to the opposite sex.  He spoke to my heart when he played guitar in my friend’s basement, and I sat there and took in the music, attracted to him, but skeptical about this encounter.  Hours later, our entire group attended an inspiring outdoor 4^th of July concert, complete with music, fireworks, and the Gettysburg Address.  Between festivities, James and I spent a whirlwind evening sitting on a patriotic blanket, sipping root beer and holding innumerable, random discussions about life, love, and laughter.  Slowly our emotional walls crumbled, allowing friendship and romance to creep in. Three days later, I found myself back in San Antonio, alone, prepared for the termination of this “summer fling”—distance would probably end this relationship, and I had accepted that reality.

     Since that fateful encounter over two years ago, not a day has gone by that James and I have not spoken.  Tons of frequent flyer miles have accrued between us, and we will once again spend Christmas with his family, returning together to San Antonio for the New Year. Plans are in the offing that, after completing our traditional educations, we will cash in those miles and merge our two lives into one.

     The outcome of my emotional education was unbelievably surprising, not at all the way I assumed it would be. Like Frederick Douglass states in his Narrative, “it was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I least expected it” (41).  Indeed, my emotional education has taught me that life is not all about me anymore.  I have learned that life goals are not always planned, not always achieved by following a formula.  I, like Douglass, am “gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I (have) gained” (40).

 Works Cited

Brooks, David. “The Other Education.” The New York Times. The New York Times

     Company, 26 Nov. 2009. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.

     New York: Barnes & Noble’s Classics, 2003. Print.

Memories Oct 08

  Reminiscing is one of my favorite pastimes and some of my favorite things to reminisce about are memories I've spent with James.  I like to keep things chronological so I'll start with the first time we got together after we met.  It was October 2008.  We're about to start 2011 now so 2008 seems like a million gajillion years ago.  It was 3 months after I met James and we went to Homecoming at FHS together.

  Seeing him again after those short 3 days we first spent together was surreal.  Also surreal was flying on a plane for the first time since I was a 3 year old.  James and I went on our first official date to McDonalds.  Romantic, right?  I'm lovin' it.  Below is one of the first pictures we took together.

  AH my God we were so young!!  James had braces and I didn't know how to wear makeup.  We had both only been 17 for a few months.  James was still definitely the most attractive guy I had ever seen, and the best part is, with every passing day he's only gotten more and more attractive.

  Then we went to the dance itself which was a lot of fun.  We listened to "Cherub Rock" by The Smashing Pumpkins on the way there.  At the dance they played what is still one of my favorite songs  "Whatever You Like" bye T.I.  We requested they play "Cherry Pie" by Warrant (and they totally did).  Oh and "Bad Girlfriend" by Buckcherry is also an important song on that list.  All those songs still remind me of Homecoming.

  Once we got home we changed into PJs, and watched South Park till we fell asleep.  Pretty awesome way to end the night.  Unfortunately, I was only there for about 3 or 4 days.  But we had Christmas to look forward to, and you can probably guess what my next blog will be about... ⁏]

  Also during that particular weekend, we went Facebook official.  We basically started dating when we met but were hesitant about going public.  I mean, I wasn't sure if it was gonna last and neither was he.  But we got on Facebook and he was just like "Wanna be in a relationship?" and I remember saying something along the lines of "Sure!".  So he sent me a request and I accepted and it's been that way ever since. ♡

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