Post-Christmas

10:52 a.m. Anyway! So I'm back at Mom's again, her neighbor's pool house where I left off, to be exact. So I'm gonna try and catch up on what happened between then and now. :) It's gonna be fun!

So, at Dad's it wasn't too eventful before Christmas. I watched Netflix and chilled out most of the time. I spent a lot of time swapping stories with Anna in the kitchen and helping with the cleaning.

The next day, they got new, camo-covered recliners to enjoy. I helped take them out and bring the new ones in before the wedding ceremony.

The wedding was a brief ceremony and I took pictures for both Facebook and Instagram.

I was both the witness and the ring-bearer, and they received a lot of congrats on the internet. Dad even got her a couple of roses, which were very lovely.

Later on, we went out for burritos and quesadillas, and Dad picked up a new PS4 with VR bundle from a rental place, which he intends on keeping a lot longer than the two weeks he planned. ;) It was a trip playing with that VR, as it even made me feel kinda dizzy for short periods, but I got used to it. :) Dad spent all night setting it up and shopping for new games. Both free and a nice paid one he wanted. Then I finally went to bed late. I slept in afterward.

We also watched, briefly, National Lampoon on tv. Dad and I spent the day hanging out at the house while Anna got food ready for the Christmas dinner...so there was more trying out the VR stuff. By the way, I often have terrible memory so I'm relying on my huge amount of Instagram photos to remind me. :P

Around 4:30 p.m. Christmas Eve, people started arriving. I gave Aaliyah my old netbook and started teaching her stuff, including how to play MECC Opening Night, which she enjoyed for HOURS! :D Also showing her how to load the hand-me-down mp3 player I got her with music. So glad she loved it. We watched Armaggedon, Casper, and Guardians of the Galaxy Two, all the while the family gathered and conversated about this and that.

Gave out presents to DJ, Maranda, and the kids. Everyone ate a lot and just had a really good time. Even Uncle Pat and Zackary surprised us by stopping by!

As the night wound down, so did the crowd of family. Jen, the girls, Jeremi, and Zack were going to spend the night, and they did. The kids watched Polar Express until bedtime, and the adults hung out, swapped stories, and played with the VR.

Here comes the 'not so great' part. I took the usual back bedroom with the two kids, in the early morning hours, and I could not sleep. I also couldn't find my earplugs. :(

 Aaliyah, bless her heart, is a teeth grinder and lip-smacker in her sleep.

There was barely any air and the bed felt all the more crowded for it.

After around 5-6 a.m., I decided to go on my netbook, and that woke Aaliyah. We watched Once Upon A Time for a bit until I went to sleep and she continued watching. I got a couple hours in, dreamless sleep. Then more tossing and turning, and moving to the foot of the bed. Then Jen caught her and told her to turn off the netbook and go to bed, so she did....until she got hungry and decided to eat something with a crinkly wrapper...then got on her tablet.

So I grumpily, silently, moved out to the living room. Felt like fifteen minutes of blissful quiet rest, cool rest, until Jen wanted the tv on. I gave up.

I chugged down a caffeinated soda and ate my grumpy tired feelings in a big bunch of leftovers until I was full. I kept this all to myself of course. No need to be a 'openly' be a grump on Christmas morning.

A brief time later the girls got woken up, and they woke up Dad. Presents were given out by Aaliyah and unwrapped, very much enjoyed.

Anna gave me a huge box in a box in a box in a box surprise which led to my tablet! :D So yes, I got the tablet I wanted for Christmas and am thrilled about that! We all even got some stockings. Mine had little knick-knacks like beauty accessories.

Thrilled to also find I got an emory board and nail clippers, both while intended for beauty, are incredibly useful for the tablet nib hack I mentioned in an earlier post. If I knew I was getting nail clippers for Christmas, I would have saved myself a couple bucks buying it online. :P Grateful, though. :D

Anyway! Then it was time to pack, clean up, and head to Aunt Steffs! Zack took me. He offered to let me play my music on his radio but my cord was in my bag in the backseat. I tried telling him I have weird music taste anyway. :P

It wasn't until I got to Aunt Steffs I realized I forgot the massive art set Mom bought me, but Jen took it with her when she left later. :)

Anyway, at Steffs, I just played on the netbook until the kids got there. As I tried to plug my netbook in a spot behind the side table and couch, I accidentally knocked over her shades while I was there and had to fix it before anyone (besides a quietly amused Zackary) noticed.

There were also gifts everywhere and some cleaning up was needed. Marley and Lani were very much enjoying playing with their new toys. :)

Then the girls arrived with Jen, who also brought frozen turkey from Anna for me to take home, and there was more hanging about and chatting. Also, Aunt Steff got me a nice bag with more beauty stuff in it, as well as a little easy recipe book.  :) Jen and Mom got the same kind.

I had a little incident though where I was out of pads before and using toilet paper to supplement, only that bled through to my underwear and my pants, staining them. I had to wait like fifteen minutes, standing around and hiding this, until Zack could return from picking up Mom (My bags/change of clothes were in his car) and then I managed to change, and get a pad from Aunt Steff.

I signed Aaliyah up for Neopets. Her first account got almost immediately frozen after the username, which contained her name, was found to be too personal/revealing. So we made another and she tried it out. Then the kids played on the backyard playground.

After I came home with Mom and Zack, I went to bed until around 10 p.m. ish and woke to find Grandpa there. We watched Tomorrowland on tv. Mom showed up shortly after.

We finished the movie and then she took the floor, I took the couch, and Grandpa took the bed. Until the early morning hours, I had a Chrisley marathon and enjoyed the faint wifi signal I picked up from next door. I also managed to write a part of the last chapter, having written a prior one while I hung out at Aunt Stephanie's house.

Then I myself, went to bed around 1 a.m. and slept until around 10 a.m. or so. Then got up, brushed my hair, brought my netbook to the pool house and did dailies on Neopets.

Then it took multiple attempts to log into blogger. At first because I forgot my password, then remembered. Then it would log in, then return to the sign in page, with both my admin google accounts for this blog. Didn't work again until I signed in with Aaliyah's account, then my own again.

And thus here we are in the present. Also, again, I hope to add photos later on.

It was decided at Dad's, as I forgot to mention, that I'm staying until sometime past New Years. Gas issues and convenience and whatnot. It'll be easier to be here for the New Years party we're having at Liki Tiki (I think that's what its called) in Orlando and then taking me home after.

This also means I can't use my new tablet until then but I will just have to be patient.

Also, Dad was a little unhappy this morning. He messaged me thinking I didn't get Anna a gift, which I did (A glass with the loofah, bath salts, and a candle) and they can't seem to find it. Jen and Mom took hers, and Anna's is missing somewhere apparently. We worked it out but Dad seems to think one of the kids might've run off with it. The important thing was to remind him I didn't forget to get Anna something, so that light fiasco was settled this morning as well.

So yeah! I will write later to catch up, God Willing, and see you soon! Mwuah! Christ's blessing had hope you had a wonderful holiday with your own family!