the last week or two has been wonderful

i would like to state that i had the best possible christmas this year, despite the fact that this is my first holiday season away from my family.

steve and his family welcomed me with open arms for thanksgiving and then for xmas.
it was definitely a christmas more about sharing experiences rather than fancy gifts.
and i am sure without a doubt in my mind, that i preferred time spent with steve and his family over anything that could have been bought.

i finally got to meet steve's brother travis and his wife erin on xmas eve.
they were just as nice and friendly as i hoped they'd be.

erin made us a yummy dinner and dessert.
then we all exchanged gifts and played apples to apples and farkle.

on christmas day, steve's mom was very patient with me and taught me how to knit (i'm still not so good yet) and she took us to the movies to see marley & me.
the movie was a lot better than what i expected because i had read the book this summer.
it's the first time i've been in a theater where you can hear a lot of people around you crying at the end.
i even cried and i was trying so hard to hold it in too.

so, i've walked away from this christmas with a few nice gifts, but a lot more cherished memories. :)

unfortunately, there has been a small black cloud looming over christmas this year for steve's family.
steve's grandma rose passed away the day before xmas eve from colon cancer.
it's something that the family had been expecting for about a month now, but it still sucks pretty bad.

my mother called me on christmas for the first time in a year.
it was nice that she finally actually called and talked to me for awhile.
it sounds like my family is not doing so well financially, which is no big shocker.
some of it couldn't be helped, but a lot of it is their own fault.
they have a constant pattern of poor choices made over the course of my life.
i feel bad for them, but i know there is nothing that i can do but offer advice.
i also found out that my sister accepted her abusive girlfriend back into her life.
it hurt to find out, but i was not surprised at all.
just another pattern of poor choices.
i love my family, but it's much better to keep them at this distance away from me so that i do not continue to make the mistakes they have made.

i never got a chance to mail out my family's xmas presents or any cards to friends.
due to all of the snow that we've gotten here, the post office was closed for a couple of days.
when i got off from work, it was closed also.
and buses in my neighborhood were not running either, so i was not going to walk a mile and a half in the snow to get to the post office only to find out it was closed again.
i hope that everyone understands and won't mind getting them late.

i just want to say that, despite the snow, leaking window in my apartment, horrible work schedules, and the overall crappiness of the weather and the misfortunes it has caused, the last week or two has been wonderful for me and i am very grateful for the people that i have in my life (especially steve). :)