Update...

Well, Christmas is over and I'm back in the O.C. It was nice to be able and spend some time with my parents; they have become an enormous source of peace, wisdom and guidance. My mother especially...

I've talked with her several times about recent events concerning my close friends, and she has been very encouraging and supportive despite my mistakes. I love her and appreciate her...Let it be known.

Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. So this Christmas was one of the best with my immediate family and one of the worst with my aunt, uncle and grandparents. Although I must say that it was awesome hanging out with my Poppa (grandpa). So, out with the bad first and end with good...

My grandma is starting to feel like she is being pushed out of our lives (the grand children) and she sorta' is, but not because we don't want to see or talk to her, but because she is being so stubborn and (I believe) foolish to my mother. She wants to control everything and if the smallest thing is not under her control or in her power to change, she gets upset and cuts people off. That's how she deals with problems, she always has. Well, my mother wanted to live her own life and not let grandma make her decisions (which is great!), but grandma didn't like it and so cut my ma off and they haven't spoken in almost two years. Well, now that I'm becoming my own independent man, I'm noticing this and don't want to see my ma hurt and so I get frustrated with grandma because I can now see her trying to control my life when I visit her; I'll find myself changing my personality drastically when I'm visiting her and I don't like doing it, but I don't want to hurt her either. It can be very frustrating.

Oh well, it's not the end of the world and out of all of this, I have become closer with my parents which I am grateful. Ok so my brother and I traveled up to Bako on Friday and got there about 15 minutes to 11pm. Ma and dad weren't up, so I did my laundry and then went to bed. Dad woke me up the next morning with the dogs (evil thing to do after 5 hours of sleep) and the fun started. Christmas eve was spent being lazy and finishing gift wrapping and what-not. After dinner, my brother, sister and I spent several hours watching "A Christmas Story" over and over because TBS or some station was playing it for 24 hours...AMAZING, simply amazing! I don't think I could see that movie too many times! Well, I went to be late and then my dad woke me up again on Christmas morning just so he could eat breakfast. Heheh, it's kinda' ironic because usually we (the children) are the ones who wake the parents, and now it's the parents waking the children...Oh well! Anyway, after breakfast we opened presents and the most memorable part was watching my brother, Steven open his gift...Our dad drew his name and got him a Best Buy gift card, but instead of just wrapping it with paper, he wrapped it in tissue paper and then put it in a small wooden box that he made specifically for this. He sealed it with glue and finishing nail all around, so one couldn't just take a hammer and pry the nails from it...it took Steven about 30-40 minutes to open the box and holy crap it was hilarious!! He spent so long hitting it with a hammer and then using a chisel to try to pry it open and finally he got it! Hurray, he's finished! It was a great Christmas morning. I hope everything was good for your Christmas too! That's right, I'm talking to you.

And now, I make my leave to rest and sleep.