and dreams really do come true at Christmas!

what a week i've had!

sleeping = non-existant, but that's to be expected i guess. that's what happens at CHRISTMAS!! i'm so stuffed with food that i could cry. but once again, that goes with the territory!!!!

let me start from the beginning, on last Saturday, because it's honestly been quite a tale. my dad and i set out to pick Gauri up from the airport pretty early on Saturday morning, but we wound up putting the "tree" up then heading to the airport, with intentions of decorating the tree when we came home. but...the Snowstorm From Hell kept Gauri's flight back forever so...we went to the city! finally, we picked Gauri up only to find her luggage lost *sigh*. we waited forever on this line just so Gauri could tell some idiots from Delta what color her luggage was. (and poor Gauri was so upset because her birthday/christmas presents to me were in there!!) once we made it out of there, we came home, made Gauri's favorite cookies, went out for dinner, and drove around looking at Christmas lights, which i love and Gauri did too. we watched House on DVR (i think i'm FINALLY caught up!) and went to bed without talking forever amazingly.

Sunday...tree decorating/Mass/watched Elf. awesome.
Monday...braved the mall. twice in one day *SIGH* went with my mom during the day, came home for all of an hour, then went to a different mall with my dad (yes, on Long Island we have four malls within a 15 mi radius from my house. no joke.) but it was fun because we went out to dinner, and when i go out alone with my dad he takes the time to make me feel special.
Tuesday...went all over creation, essentially. met Michelle for diner breakfast, ran to pick my dad up from a business delivery then drive him to do more deliveries, went and picked up stuff for my grandma, and saw my life flash before me about three times during the process. SERIOUSLY...PEOPLE NEED TO CALM DOWN ON THE DRIVING TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS!! i almost got sided in an intersection, and it took fifteen minutes to find a parking spot in the stop & shop parking lot. and i didn't even need to go to stop & shop. i came home in tears because i didn't freak out while it was happening, but i needed to freak out once i got myself out of it. at least Michelle was clearly impressed with my driving skills ^_^ had choir practice on Tuesday night!!!! and had a second soprano part thrust on me right away because our director didn't bother to teach it to anyone because i was going to be there. now. it's nice to be so depended on and to be respected BUT!!!! i had two days to learn the part that i couldn't get in rehearsal. did i figure it out? course i did. and then, i came home and wrapped.

Christmas Eve was a long day but an awesome night. i was at the nail salon at 9:15 am to beat the crowds (which was a success) but i think Santa sent the monsoons in honor of Christmas Eve. i was then appointed to run Grandma Errands which meant standing in the gourmet market for a good ten minutes before the people realized our order was a catering order and not a deli/butcher order. *SIGH!!!!* i wound up having to go back there to get cooking directions and i felt so awful because the people probably would be happy to never see my face again after how angry they saw me getting...we went to the Paradyszes for Christmas Eve dinner, and Allie pulled out an old tape of our fourth grade production of Cinderella. it was awesome, it truly was. after was Midnight Mass...which is my Happy Place. probably in the whole world. in the entire realm of life. i cried my way through as i sung O Little Town of Bethlehem and Silent Night and O Come All Ye Faithful. it was...beyond awesome. i didn't get to sleep until late because i had to stay up and watch...A CHRISTMAS STORY!

and then today...aaah Christmas!! i was actually the last one up. so different from when i was a kid. we had to split the day with my mom's side and my dad's side but we at least had our own Christmas in the morning. i got the pink iPod nano that i've been wanting FOREVER, a $50 gift card to CVS so i can develop all of my pics, a lot of clothes, a House t-shirt (got some of those for my birthday too), and really awesome Ed Hardy sneakers. from my grandma..Skullcandy headphones!! and Sex and the City on DVD from Gina and Enchanted from all of the Barones. my parents loved the collage i made them and my grandma cried when she opened the note that said that Gina and Joe and i were taking her out to dinner. next stop..Huntington, for the infamous Donaldson family hulabaloo. we did a Chinese Auction and i wound up with a Starbucks card ^_^ but the whole process is just hysterical, especially when there are 25 of us. lots of screaming and yelling. we also sung a 12 Days of Christmas parody, which i love, always.

but the best parts of all it:

1)of course, the reason for the season...Jesus. so many people lose sight of that.
2)my grandma has been feeling depressed and sick (mostly to her stomach) all week. but God was watching out for her as she was even able to eat fried calamari on Christmas Eve and she stayed awake through Midnight Mass. i love doing Sign of Peace at Mass..at Salve, Ann and Terin and Ben and i all hold hands during the Our Father then hug at Sign of Peace. at home, my parents and my grandma look up to the choir loft after i give peace to my choir buddies to give me peace. i was so happy to see my grandma smiling at me up there; it almost made me feel like my grandpa was still there with her. and today, she was just so happy when she opened everything and to have all of us there (even though not EVERYONE was there).
3)something coming around (not in the love life sense) that could finally go back to the way things used to be.
4)ok..big news here....get ready...I'M GOING TO BE A GODMOTHER!!!! my cousin Erin asked me tonight, right before i was about to dig in to the Christmas feast, to be the Godmother to her new baby who is scheduled for C-Section on New Year's Eve. i cried and hugged her and Larry, her husband. i'm still shocked. truly shocked. and the best part...her name will be Grace, and her nickname will be...GRACIE!!!! !!

so...i'm off to DISNEY on Monday. just when i thought things couldn't be any more magical, i'm going to my other Happy Place...where Magic lives!

MERRY CHRISTMAS (and thank you to anyone who made it through that long post)!