Whew it’s over!

Christmas is always soo hectic! On Christmas eve, my Uncle and cousins and grandparents came over, and we had a traditional Ukranian dinner (it’s gross, I don’t like any of the food except the bread). So basically, by the time I woke up in the morning, my uncle was already at our house, making perogies, and my mom was making soup. I started cleaning a little, and then had to decorate the tree (which I hate, and so I always have to decorate 2 every year). Then my cousins came over and I was still cleaning and crept away to the basement to wrap some presents. By dinnertime, I had a killer headache just from dealing with all the people and bustle in the house, so I went to bed right after dinner. At about 10 we went to visit a friend, which we do every year, and that was nice.

On Christmas day, I slept in, thankfully. We opened presents in the morning, and then my grandparents came over in the evening for dinner. I was really getting tired of dealing with family, so I was happy when a friend called me up. She came over that evening, and we went on a little epic adventure trying to find a store that was open on Christmas so that we could buy the movie Easy A. We ended up renting it from a redbox at the grocery store, because nothing was open.

We had originally wanted to go see Tangled, but it’s no longer playing anywhere near us, and Black Swan isn’t in the area yet. Very sad.

But now that christmas hectic-ness is over, and I guess I have to do work. I have to do some work on the project that I started this summer, and then I have to apply for gradschools, and I have to start preparing for my independent study next semester. And all I want to do is sleep.

But I have a cat on my lap, so I guess it’s ok.

Almost Home

So I’m all done for the semester. I just finished my last paper (and it sucks but I’m NOT going back to fix it). So now that I’m done, I get to think about vacation! And Christmas! And presents …. oh damn.

I don’t usually get presents for very many people, and I never know what to get for the people that I do buy stuff for. It’s a conundrum.

My sister found something that she wanted (a weird cookie cutter thing that better mean that I’m getting cookies when I visit) and she emailed me asking who she should ask for it. I don’t know if that was a hideously not-so-subtle hint, but I agreed to buy it for her. I haven’t yet … but I will! I later found THE PERFECT GIFT. It is literally the best thing ever, and she will love it. So naturally it’s sold out.

UPDATE: found it somewhere else. SHE WILL BE SO EXCITED.

So my sister is all set gift-wise.

For my nephew I got these cute books that are shaped like a gorilla and a crocodile, and when you open their mouth there’s pages inside. (They’re wrapped in plastic, so I haven’t opened them yet, but I think they’re info about the animals. Still cute) He’s too young to read, so him mom can read with him!

I’m going to make something for my mom. I don’t think she reads this (or knows of its existence) so I can write about it here. I like to do scrapbooking, and my mom likes dragons, so I decided to make her a dragon poster, scrapbook style. I was thinking of doing it like a tryptich (NO IDEA how to spell that). I want to have a sea dragon on one side, and snow/ice dragon on the other side … and I don’t know. I had thought about doing a fire dragon, but then my roommate suggested a dragon of steam or clouds, which could be cool. OOH! I could use vellum paper for the dragon, so he’s kinda see-through … that could be cool …

Anyway, I want to do that for my mom. Naturally I don’t have any of my supplies here at school with me, so I won’t be able to start until Monday, and I’ll only be able to work on it when my mom’s not home, so that really cuts back on the time. So I don’t know if I want to just do the two (ice and water) and have them framed separately, instead of doing all three … I may make the dragons and see how I’m doing for time.

If I really run out of time, I can make one, and then make the other one for her birthday in march, and then just make it like a series of dragons …

Moving on, there’s my dad. NO IDEA what to get him. Could I scrapbook something for him? What would he like? Is there something he needs/wants that I could buy? No clue. Same with my grandparents. I feel bad, because it usually ends up that my mom buys them things and I just put my name on the box. And since I’m perpetually broke (I am a college student, after all) I’m usually ok with that. So I may end up doing that again.

Then we get my mom’s boyfriend, my stepsister, her husband, my stepbrother, and his wife, who all usually get me something. (I could give one gift to each of the couples which helps) I thought about scrapbooking a nursery rhyme for each of them, to go in their childrens’ rooms, but then we’re back at scrapbooking which would take me forever and I don’t have time. Soooo … still don’t know.

I’m thinking about maybe making cookies, and decorating them. I found these cookies and aren’t they super adorable!!! I can draw super adorable things too!! (I actually can, I swear) So I was thinking, what if I tried to make reindeer ones, and used that recipe to make the frosting all shiny and pretty? Reindeer, maybe a santa, some presents, they could be adorable! And basically free (because my mom should own all the supplies, and would probably buy me any that I don’t have!!)

So I can make cookies for the stepsister/SO and stepbrother/SO. I’d make them for my grandparents too, but they live next door and have a tendency to just pop on over, so I’d never be able to make them without my grandma finding out beforehand.

So I guess I have stuff figured out for everyone except my dad, my grandparents, and my mom’s boyfriend. Any ideas? I’m starting to run out of time!!