Thursday 12/27, Dad, Mom and Aubs came in at 7 to tell us bye then we both went back to sleep and reawoke at 9. We gathered our things, loaded the car down, said our goodbyes and made our way back to Issaquah. It snowed almost the whole way but it wasn't sticking. We talked and listened to new music all the way down and arrived at 11. We unloaded the car and ended up in my room for a while playing with Jacques and Kassie got him going in so many circles that when he stopped he ran to the mirror, tried to attack himself, ran into the wall then the door jam trying to make his way out of my room. We were laughing so hard no sound was coming out. Kassie took off shortly after as I settled onto the living room floor to work on my review. I alternated between eating lunch, listening to music and checking myspace and working on my review. It actually didn't take me too long once I sat down and did it and I felt good when I got it done except I needed to do a final check. I chatted with Ian on skype im and am not sure what's going on but he's being somewhat passive with what we're doing and how he's feeling and what he wants. I don't really know what to do, but whatever. I watched Money Pit and cleaned out the fireplace then promptly started a fire which was really nice. I read a bunch of mags from Susan and snacked on a cookie. I fell asleep after it was over then took off to go to Mom's for dinner. I had a nice present from Grandma waiting for me so I talked to her on the phone and thanked her then we ate while watching Big. Kassie finally showed up, ate her dinner then we went in the living room to talk. We discussed K & S and their relationship and living situation then Jake and how Mom and Dad need to have a serious talk with him about sex and Mom's totally in denial. We were in there for quite a while then it was time for me to take off and Chrystol called to see if I wanted to stop by for a little x-mas present so we chatted as I drove over to Grandma's (to deliver some dinner) and made plans for me to stop by. I went up and Grandma's house was so hot but I managed and the three of us sat in her room talking and Auntie fed Grandma some apple and cheese and she ate a good bit of the polenta. Auntie wants me to come to HI so I think I might try for May or something...we'll see. On my way out I talked to Susan and made plans for later then home where I got ready for Neighbours, called Chrystol to see if it was still ok and headed out. I called Ian on the way and we chatted for a few minutes and he reassured me about calling him. When I got to Chrystol and Schuyler's I was greeted by their new kitty, Lulu, and she's soo cute and sweet. And did a backflip. We talked about Eric and Ian and Christmas's and our cats. It was close to 11 so I took off and called Susan on the way, met her at our spot and walked quickly to Neighbs. We paid and went in spotting Eric right away and when he said hi I was very confused and thought he said something else and was like “WHAT?!” and he’s like “Geez, I just asked how you’re doing” so then I felt silly and was like “Oh, haha, I’m good, sorry” then we went upstairs to watch the crowd. We noticed Sebastian which we thought was very coincidental then checked our coats so we could hit the floor. We saw Tye up on the stage and he waved to us as we made our way to the floor and danced it up and spotted Dick watching over the dance floor and trying to make eye contact but dancing with some not-so-attractive girl until this awful drag show started. We sat on the sidelines forever trying to ignore the terribleness of it all and spotted Max who looked on in horror like most of the rest of us. After all the prizes had been handed out (including one of the seven dwarves in stuffed animal form) a good song was played so we got back out there and danced. Max disappeared so we kept our eye out for him and other regulars but didn’t spot any. Another damn drag show started so we sat on the sidelines again and spotted Max who I got a hug from and we started chatting. Mostly about how dumb the show was. I told him I liked his longer hair and noticed a little silver skull and cross bones on his sweatshirt. I liked his purple eyeliner too but I didn’t tell him that. Susan and I had started taking some monocle pictures and Susan continued by herself in hopes of getting some with Max in the background. Then Eric walked by and both Susan and I were like “Help us! This is awful!” and he agreed but said there wasn’t much he could do, then made fun of me like “Oh sure, I’ll just say “There’s some girl from Bellevue that doesn’t like your show. And she has a Gucci purse too” that will go over real well. You’ll get your ass kicked” so we laughed and kidded around and Susan sneakily got a picture of him too. Hee hee hee. I think I touched his arm. The music came back on so Susan, Max and me went out on the floor and some really good songs came on so we all busted it out. Some guy dancing behind Susan kept looking at me so when I knew he was looking I leaned into Max and asked him a question so that the guy would hopefully stop looking. Then Max got real chatty asking if I’d been to Celebrities in Vancouver and telling me all about it. Susan and I danced to a few more songs then decided to take off. On our way to the coat check we passed Eric who was like “I told her that you didn’t like her show and she’s going to work on it” or something like that being all cute and flirty so I said thanks then waved, we got our coats and booked it to our cars. The last Thursday of the year was a decent one.

Wednesday 12/26, I woke up at 8:30 or so and had some breakfast with the adults and we mapped out the plans for the day. Kassie and I got ready and went into downtown Bellingham to go to Everyday Music. We perused in there and all I ended up with were a few new cds and a movie. We went to a little coffee shop next and each got some baked goods for the movie then headed over to the mall. Kassie yelled at some hooligan for pushing his friend into an old lady on our way to the movie theater. We met the rest of the family there, but as we waited Kassie filled me in on the details of the Thanksgiving incident with Skylar. Very interesting. Some of us went into the theater to get seats and it’s a good thing because that shit filled up fast. Kassie and I didn’t really want to see it (National Treasure) but were both surprised that we didn’t hate it and thought it wasn’t too bad. At the end Kassie started frantically saying to Papa “Hurry Papa, the door is closing!” and some guy laughed and I thought it was really hilarious. The kids all rode together to Black Angus and we were the last to arrive. None of us ate much because we were full from all the food we’d consumed in the past two days. Kassie colored extremely inappropriate pictures that had us all in stitches and the parents looking over disapprovingly. We high tailed it out of there early and went home and lounged. We all watched some hilarious music videos and Dad said he wants to pop Justin Timberlake’s head but Mom and Auntie Heidi both agreed that he’s hot. And Hailey, she just kept repeating it over and over. Auntie Heidi made strawberry shortcake and I ate a ton then Uncle Brad put on one of the Bourne movies but I didn’t want to watch it so I read some magazines on the floor instead. My stomach was hurting so I went to bed early.

Tuesday 12/25, I woke up at 7 to shower and get ready and pack and everything, then woke Kassie up and we were out the door by 8:15. Everyone was there, including Auntie Lauryn who had just flown in that morning, and Mom was cooking away so we didn’t end up getting started on the presents for about a half hour. Grandma was out of it because of the meds and by the time we started she was practically asleep in her little chair in the middle of opening a present. I got some nice things including a sparkly cute new apron and the lamp Mom and I picked out a few weeks ago. After all the presents were opened we started on breakfast and the apple coffee cake was wonderful and so was the cheese quiche. Kass and I left at 10:30 to hit Vivace, and as we were standing in line forever Dad called and said Kassie had left her cell phone so we ditched the coffee and headed back to the house and finally got on the road at 11. We had a nice drive up and it started snowing a little at the curves but we made it fine. Hailey was at work and the socks hadn’t even been opened which had to be a record. We sat around waiting and I ate some of Auntie Heidi’s homemade caramel corn and Grandma’s apple chips and snacked on other random treats. Finally it was time to do presents and Kassie started shouting “Q-tips, Q-tips!” I got the fireplace tool set I wanted and a bunch of luggage stuff, a ton of North Face stuff since now Dad’s company owns them or the other way around, and some other things. For the rest of the day we snacked and visited and myspaced and puzzled and just had a fun day. We had a large dinner with poppers and hilarity between Dad and Kelly with Kelly having to distribute threats to Dad if he tried to put those fake flowers in his ear one more time. After dinner we all played Apples to Apples and I totally lost, like by a lot. It’s hard for me to play with people who are too literal. People started thinning out because it was getting late and some of us ended up in Hailey’s room burning cds and myspacing and I called Ian and we chatted for a little bit about our respective Christmas’s and movies we’d seen. I don’t think I stayed up very late.

Monday 12/24, We woke up early and made it up to Everett for breakfast with the fam and Rose. I was feeling sick with a runny nose and sore throat, so that sucked. When we got there Allen had stopped by and it has to be 12 or 13 years since the last time I saw him. He stuck around for a few minutes and showed us pictures of the boys then took off. The waitress was very snappy and Kassie got all mad because of what she said to Grandma. Aubrie and I shared pancakes then I ate some of Kassie’s bacon and Dad’s toast. Kassie and I took Aubrie to the motorhome then headed home where I crawled into bed for most the day. Kassie had to wrap presents so we watched Arrested Development in the living room until she needed to leave for her party at Mike’s. I got into bed because I felt like crap and took a little nap before getting up to run some errands around Issaquah. I got my prescription filled and picked up some Ibuprofen then over to try to find my AG hair stuff, but the place was closed, then over to the bank then called Dad for directions to Monique’s. I had to call Chip for him to get me the rest of the way and when I pulled up all I could say was “Oh.My.God” this place was enormous. 7,000+ sq. ft. Cripes. The living and family rooms have like 30 foot ceilings. Nuts. So I talked with Chip and Monique while waiting for other people to arrive. Peggy was next and eventually Mom and the gang and lastly Pandora. We all sat around talking in the family room in front of the fire and eating Mom’s caramelized onions and roasted peppers with goat cheese. I ate so much. Kassie showed up right before dinner started and the conversation eventually turned to politics and boy were there some heated discussions on that score then Kassie introduced the table to the term “bi-curious” which Chip LOVED and kept saying. It was hilarious and we told him that if he started using that term in Seattle he’d get a whole bunch of new friends. Pandora told us a story about a president who wore dresses and Peggy got mad. Kassie needed to take off so after a few more group photos we all left. At home I crawled into bed and stayed there for the rest of the night.