Thoughts on Christmas

Here it is, the day that we've all been waiting for, Christmas! Whether you were counting down with an Advent calendar, lighting a new candle on your wreath every Sunday, or even if you don't celebrate the holiday at all but couldn't escape it (in our crazy commercialized society!), Christmas finally arrived.

My Christmas really begins on Christmas Eve, when my family goes to Mass - yes, I was raised Roman Catholic - and then heads over to Grandma's house for dinner. We of the Walsh brood have a special Christmas Eve tradition: pizza and wings! Everyone goes to Grandma's house, we order in, and we sit around watching movies and spending time together. Then it's home to wait for Santa and see if you can hear reindeer up on the roof.

This morning my alarm was set for 9:30 am, so of course I woke up at 8:00 and couldn't fall back asleep. I recruited my sister around 9:00 and we woke our parents up because who doesn't want to open presents first thing in the morning? I made sure to give my presents to my family before I started tearing into the 'Santa pile', just so you know. I got a sweatshirt for Claire, a sweater and a pair of earrings for my mom, and a book about the Civil War for my dad. Then it was time for Claire and me to open our presents. There really wasn't a whole lot under the tree this year, partly because of all of my car troubles from this Fall (we bought a used Honda Civic the other day!) and partly because my parents are taking Claire and me shopping in a few weeks because we're to a point that it's difficult for them to pick out clothes for us and size things correctly. 

I really don't mind not having much to open. Honestly, I'm to a point where Christmas makes me feel greedy. I sit there and I open up all of these presents and I appreciate it so much, but it's like. Why are we doing this? When did Christmas become this big holiday all about presents and getting new stuff? I mean yeah, I enjoy it. I can't deny that. I love getting presents and having new things. But I just feel like I don't really deserve it. Why am I getting all of this stuff? What dictates that "hey, on this date you should just give your kids - and everyone you know - a shit ton of stuff for no reason!?" It just bothers me a little bit. Which isn't to say either that when I grow up I'll have a totally uncommercial Christmas with no presents or anything, because like I said, I do enjoy (AND APPRECIATE) it. It just makes me wonder.

Now that I've had my little introspective discussion about my thoughts on Christmas, I'll continue with our traditions. After opening presents, we always have sweet rolls as a family, cinnamon and orange. I always only eat cinnamon. Then we just hang out at home until it's time to go back over to Grandma's. Today I helped my mom with the baking - we made Reese's Cup cookies and they are sooo good oh my gosh. I love them, and they're so easy to make (I'll post the recipe sometime before the end of break). We headed over to Grandma's house around 6. I don't know if ham is actually a Christmas dinner tradition for most people or what, but we always have turkey, with mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (which I don't eat), cranberry sauce, stuffing, and rolls (usually from Caporale's bakery.) This year we did presents after dinner, and then I actually left to go see Les Miserables with Katie, Kyle, and Tim.

This was a good Christmas. It was definitely different, without Grandma, but it was ok. I'm glad that I got to spend it with my family and friends, especially knowing that so many people couldn't do the same this year because of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Events like that don't make any sense to me, but they make me hold my family closer and appreciate all that I have. I am lucky, I am blessed.

I always like dressing up for Christmas Mass. Claire said I looked like a doll this year.

Sisters, sisters, never were there such devoted sisters! White Christmas has always been one of my favorite Christmas movies!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

if you were wondering what I got for Christmas, I put a list on tumblr 

Galaxy Nails

Finals are almost over! I have a paper that has to be submitted by 8:30 (or maybe 8:00?)am Tuesday morning and then a final at 10:30 on Wednesday and the semester will be over!

For now I'm just going to post about my nails, I'll get all reflective and deep about the semester after I actually have time to think.

Cool manicures are a thing right now, and a thing that I'm definitely into. I've done accent nails, colorful tips, two-tone moons, and my "Maryland nails", and this time I decided to try out "galaxy nails"! I used this tutorial, found via pinterest. My nails didn't turn out quite like the picture, but I feel like they'll look different every time doing something like this anyway. They're not perfect, but I like them for a first try!

p.s. I'm going to post something about the Sandy Hook shooting probably after finals are over. I just have too much time going ton to really sort out my thoughts about it right now. But I will. It deserves to be addressed, even if it's just some 19 year old college student in Maryland. All of the victims deserve to be remembered.

Instalife

I know, I know. Things have been getting kind of serious here lately, but I don't want to bring myself down by making a big serious post, so I'm going to wait to do that until after finals are over and I can just relax for winter break.

Did I mention that I voted? Because I voted.

I'm also not sure if I mentioned that I'm in a book club on campus this semester, I guess I'll look back and check later and if I haven't talked about it, then I will. But we have shirts!

I made homemade fries last week! They were actually surprisingly really good, I'm definitely going to be making them again. The recipe can be found here, and I found it on pinterest.

Speaking of fries, Wells and I went to Ben's Chili Bowl in DC last night, and we got veggie chili and fries (my usual order) and it was amazing!

Ben's Chili Bowl actually has an iPhone app too where you take a picture of yourself there and it uploads to their site and displays on a screen that's on the wall actually in the restaurant. Wells took this one and it ended up being displayed while we were still sitting at the counter.

As usual, food is one of my top priorities, and one of the most photographed things in my life. Tonight I made homemade pizza rolls with crescent rolls, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni. They were pretty good!

We decorated our apartment for Christmas pretty much as soon as we got back from Thanksgiving. It's not much, but we have holiday spirit in 709!

Wells and I wrapped the Christmas presents that we have so far and put them under the tree tonight. Hers are the ones with bows, but I only have one done so far - Meghan's - so hers from me is the bottom right box. Her presents are actually put inside an old empty swiffer pad box so that I could wrap them more easily, but I can't wait for her to open it and see if she actually thinks that I bought cleaning supplies for her for Christmas!