Happy New Year

Have a Happy New Year and all that follows!

-Frost

Dec 24th.

Dec 24th - 
A day....oddly spent.

Spent the day with my eldest sibling and nephew. It was quite interesting and fun.

The usual holiday bickering of "When are we getting together with _____" and "When are they coming over to do the whole 'holiday thing' again??" is a common noise on the airwaves of my house. You learn to tune it out I suppose.

With nothing much else to say:

Merry Christmas Eve to all out there that celebrate it.

Fortunately, I had been planning on doing some sort of Terraria Advent during this month (as you can see, I didn't get around to actually doing any of it), so here is a Merry Holiday Tree, complete with presents for all our wonderful viewers:

Dec 23

My Christmas tree fell over earlier. Only two ornaments broke, but I got in trouble for it.
Why on earth it was my fault the tree fell is beyond me, my dad's just a jerk.
I'm also in super duper extra trouble for having a candle burning in the same room as the Christmas tree, heaven forbid. He broke the whole candle holder and my candle.
But I'm sorry that the tree fell, since it was obviously my fault. The tree definitely fell because the front of it was far too heavy with ornaments and not because it shifted in the base, no. Because then it'd be his fault. And nothing's ever his fault.
It's also dandy that my mom's just blaming his jerky-ness on the time of the year. It's not that he's just a jerk or a mean person, no, it's that it's Christmas time and Christmas stress is getting to him.
Except that it's not, because all of yesterday the decorations that I brought up from the basement two Thursdays ago were finally unpacked and put around the living room and staircase by my mother and myself. What did he do? Vacuum. That's it. The only "assistance" to the decorating of our home this year was helping me bring the Christmas tree in and vacuuming.
Who decorated the tree? Me.
Who waters the tree every day? Me.
Who put up lights outside? Me.
Who put decorations up in the living room? My mom.
Who decorated the stairs? Me.
Who put up her abundant amount snowmen around? My mom.
Who did most of the cleaning yesterday for the small group of my dad's friends coming over? Me and my mom.
And who's making all the cookies today? Me!
So it's definitely the Christmas stress.
Literally my mom just walked in, asked if I'd watered the tree since it'd fallen down, and since I hadn't, that was also a cause for the tree falling. It's all my fault.
And all I can ever do is sigh. Despite that I do argue it as of late, it never gets through her head. She's just living in a fantasy that she did marry a nice man and "there were always worse."
If there were worse, she must be seeing her old boyfriends on the FBI's most wanted list.
I love how that's always her excuse too. There were always worse. Mother, you are not a terrible person, you've just taught yourself to be blind. You could've found better. I know it.

And now we leave. To show him what? How a few hours of nice silence will affect his life? This is why I wouldn't mind if after they reached retiring time he decided to kick the bucket. After college, I'm never seeing them again. Mother's in a fantasy and father's an absolute jerk. If he died then I'd be pleased to visit every once in a while, but as long as he lives I'm never coming back.
So yeah, Merry Eve of Christmas Eve.

Dec. 22nd

Dec. 22nd -

It's beginning to look like Christmas!


Snow! There's snow! Beautiful snow! 
These are the days I like; where the sky is grey, there's a light dusting of delicate snowflakes and there's a crisp snap to the air. This kind of weather can make for wonderfully dreary photography and lets you know that winter is here but not fully.

Then again...this weather causes most drivers to lose all sense of what they're doing. A light dusting of snow suddenly means go 15 miles per hour in a 35 mph section of road. A sudden sprinkling of sleet (icy rain) somehow means their cars have turned into  traction-less death trap that can't possibly take up less than 2 lanes. 

Yes, conditions can get dangerous but when the road is completely clear of snow, water, ice and all else you do not have to act like you've never seen rain or snow falling from the sky. 

Keep these in mind while traveling this holiday:

1. If you have a rear-wheel drive vehicle make sure there is enough weight over your back end. This will reduce your chances of sliding and provide more traction over tough sections of road.
2. Brush snow and ice off of your vehicle. Large chucks of snow or ice can hit other cars and be potentially dangerous.
3. Brake gently to avoid skidding on icy roads. 
4. Do not pass plows or salt trucks, they have limited visibility.
5. If you are uncomfortable with driving in these conditions it is probably best to avoid traveling until roads are more clear and you are more comfortable with the driving conditions.

Dec 21

Happy end of the world! And winter solstice! Or summer solstice in the southern hemisphere.
Since today is actually winter, the clouds decided it would be a great time to snow! And it has perfect snowflakes! They're beautiful!
We also delivered jaffas to some of our old high school teachers. Twas very fun and the jaffas were much appreciated.  And delicious.
It's getting closer and closer to Christmas and I tend to be getting more and more sleepy. My brain doesn't want to be moving. It wishes to snuggle up with warm hot cocoa under my moose blanket and watch Christmas specials, like the Polar Express, Olive the Other Reindeer, and many other awesome ones. Thank you abc family.
Though my mother's getting more tired and my father's getting more and more  jerky...
Well it's six months till my birthday! And the summer solstice! Or the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere. Another reason I plan on living in the northern hemisphere for the rest of eternity.
And considering the Mayans weren't one day off, we should be pleased to see tomorrow.

Dec. 20th.

Dec 12th -
Craft Hell is back with a fury.

I've found my worst nightmare of current time : No it's not the supposed apocalypse, it's flat woven friendship bracelets.
These devilish little things take a bit of your soul with every knot when you attempt making one with more than 10 strings.

A friend likes that boy band One Direction and I found a good pattern for a flat woven bracelet with their logo thing. It has 22 fricken strings. I've restarted the beginning of this bracelet 2 times now. IT'S TAKEN ME 3 HOURS TO EVEN START. 

Once again, I'm restarting the bracelet which is a tedious task. Each knot of the bracelet has to be undone and hopefully the strings don't tangle during the process. 

Why am I making the bracelet instead of buying something similar, you may be asking. The reason is simple. I like the Holidays to be personal. If I'm able to make something for someone that they'll have a use for or enjoy, it makes it that much more meaningful. Rather than going out and buying something that someone else made, I enjoy the look on peoples faces when they get something handmade. It means more because you put forth time and effort just for them. Even if it's just a handmade card, things made by hand usually get better responses than any old knick-knack from Walmart.

Dec 19

Fun fact! Blogger is difficile!
Another fun fact! Jaffa cakes are interesting to make!
We made Volcanic* Jaffa cakes today (though now yesterday...thanks publish button) Why are they volcanic you ask? it's because they were baked upon the bubbling lava of Mount Saint Helens, jello from the jello master (who is similar to a jedi master but instead of the force uses the jello...physics....or something along that lines) covered in melted chocolate from the Aztecs (and I hear you going, "The Aztecs are gone!" Exactly, we went back in time to get this delicious chocolate. Do not ask what we had to go through) and frozen at the North Pole as we chilled with Santa.
We sure went through a lot to make these Jaffas. So much I'm super sleepy and out of energy.
Also half of the Christmas lights on my tree went out because my mom wanted me to switch all of the white lights with colorful ones from another set, and it broke half of them because one doesn't want to get in so well. 
So now, if fire were water!

*They are not called Volcanic Jaffas because we burnt them! That's a guarantee!