OK, it's official: the magic is gone from Christmas for me. This holiday was just plain bizarre.
Family: screw it. I have virtually no family as it is, but it took just one relative to throw off the vibe of my happy, healthy household. My mom's incredibly senile, almost deaf, almost retarded, almost-Alzheimer's father came down to visit. I woke up on Christmas Day by her yelling at him over the phone - he wasn't even here yet and she was already furious. From there it was only downhill. When a house contains 3 people, and one's a geriatric stereotype and another thinks the first one ruined her day, it's a house of bad vibes. I had two options the whole day: spend the day like any other, mostly chilling in my room, and feel guilty for not being with family; or endure a silent-but-angry mom and a sleeping grandfather. Lose-lose.
Friends: It felt like everyone I know here had a similar situation. The A-town crowd had a small gathering that night, and it was fun, but it seemed like the place took a while to warm up - we had all come in the door exasperated and it took time for us to relax and realize that we were free from family and just chilling together. I felt sorry, too, for not getting to chill with the Suck Factor 42 fellas. This post especially goes out to Patrick, who doesn't deserve to be sent away from home at Xmas time just for having too damn much fun for a couple semesters.
Gifts: Ugh. My little post with my stack of stuff is real cool, and I'm grateful to my mom for hooking me up with all of that, but I just really feel like I didn't need anything. I'll be making use of all the things I got, for sure, but at the same time I feel like a materialistic little bitch just for having gotten it.
Love: Not to make this into an emo post, but there's a girl I quietly had my eye on for a long time. She's awesome. She came home for Christmas and I was excited to see her after not getting to have a real conversation with her for a long time. And then once she surprised me by actually *being* home, she just dropped that she got real serious with that guy she was going out with, and she brought him home for the holidays. So I got jealous, like I do. That wasn't fun. I'm OK now though, so don't go getting worried or posting nice/thoughtful comments. I already know how awesome you guys are.
Luck: And I was among the lucky. I didn't get stranded in some random airport due to 1,100 cancelled flights. I didn't drown like 100,000 people after the fella upstairs decided to punch the Indian Ocean in the face. (And while I'm at it, go give some money to the American Red Cross.) I have a home, I have a family, and I was fortunate to be the recipient of some truly cool toys. But it wasn't the least bit magical.