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aaaand it is a doozy.

I’ve been pestering her about her belief in Kris Kringle for a while. She’s ten. Its expensive for Mom. We’re all surprised that she still believe in any way, but she is a naive little girl.

My pestering has led to me admitting that I do not believe in Santa and her response about how she’s not sure. I get a response like “half and half” or “I sorta believe.” I want to tip her over to nonbelief of her own accord, so we don’t have to break her heart.

I was attempting again tonight in the car and got a response that I didn’t expect at least.

Sam said that Santa was just “superstition” and that mom wraps presents and “doesn’t hide them very well.” She elaborated that Santa sends mom presents in advance. Santa and Mom meet up. So I asked where.

Sam’s reply? Rib Mountain. I asked if they get coffee to talk it over. She said that they go to Wal-mart where Santa doesn’t give mom presents. No, he orders them. Then, the presents come in and Mom gets them. She hides them (not very well!) and wraps them, placing labels from Santa on the gifts.

This is a very specific story, and it certainly derails from the classic theology of Santa. It takes a lot of justification to find hidden Christmas presents and continue to believe in Santa in any form. That’s how most of us stop believing.

Anyway, I just thought you would all enjoy the story and if I don’t post before then, Merry Christmas!

iTunes Games

Because this is what iTunes looks like when I sign in. The iPod Touch I gave her for Christmas still uses my account, so I can keep an eye on her. This isn’t even all of them. Who knew that so many games had cupcake icons?

You know, it’s kind of crazy how much my sister and I seem to have in common despite the fact that I’ve lived away from her for most of her life. People comment on this, on how easy it is tell that she’s my sister. I’m sure much of this is now because I’ve been home for two years, and have spent a lot of time with her. She’s always looked up to me, but now she doesn’t have to do it from quite so far.

The list of things we have in common is sometimes startling, other times amusing and always telling:

• When I cut my hair, she cuts her hair
• Her favorite color is pink because mine was
• She likes Scooby Doo because I did
• She plays MapleStory because I did
• We share the same favorite type of pasta
• We’re both  sensitive
• She also likes playing online
• She loves video games
• She will be far more technologically-savvy than I, if she continues in this fashion

A plethora of other similarities, including expressions and gestures are shared between us. I’m sure some of this is her mimicking me and other things stem from having the same mother, but I don’t even realize many of these things until others point them out.

Things have been happening.. around me, not to me, just around me.

I enjoyed a drama-free Christmas. It wasn’t quite like when I was younger but it was nice. No fighting, no big problems. I was pleasantly surprised. We exchanged presents and enjoyed food and played games. I stayed at my uncle’s well after everyone else had left, chatting with him and his wife. There was some definite low-key awesomesauce going on.

On Christmas Eve, my sister’s grandmother was admitted to the hospital. This isn’t out of the normal as her health has been failing because of her diabetes for some time. She’s in and out of the hospital all of the time. Things weren’t looking good but I didn’t think it was any worse. Last night, my sister called me in tears about how sick her grandma was and Mom said her husband had gone to the hospital. Samantha quickly cheered up, as kids do, and I hung up.

I texted Mom a little bit later to ask her something unrelated. Her reply said her mother in law seemed to be doing better but, apparently, she died a short time later. I woke up to several texts from Samantha about her grandma dying but, by the time I woke up, they were already at the hospital with my mom who underwent a hysterectomy today. That went well, as we had reassured her and she’s spending the night.

I went up to the hospital today to see Mom and Samantha and Mom was incredibly funny because of her drugs. She was enjoying her alone time and being able to sleep, however. I took some time to talk to Samantha who seems to be doing incredibly well with this all. I don’t know how.

So, as you can see, I’m surrounded by activity that doesn’t directly affect me. I’m just trying my best to be there for everyone right now and hopefully I’m not failing.

Actually, it’s almost Tuesday which is crazy because I started writing this blog post in my head, in the shower when I woke up. I’ve had some busy weekends and while I’m glad to be spending time with the people I love, sometimes it gets a little crazy.

Wendy headed out of town on Friday so I enjoyed the house to myself for a few hours before heading to a Pure Romance party. I hung out with some people from school. You know the type, you have them on Facebook but rarely talk. But we caught up, talked about old friends, new lives. It was fun. It was a different group than I normally hang out with and it was nice to have a silly night with the girls and meet new people, too.

I recouped on Saturday. Sort of. I had a really difficult time sleeping this weekend, mostly because it’s warmed up and I like it cool. On top of that, everyone just seems to be so loud lately. I had been invited on a mini road trip earlier in the week by my uncle but he decided not to go and instead invited me over to his house on Sunday. Although he thought some other folks would show up, they didn’t. He picked up my sister before they stopped by my place and, of course, I misjudged the time and was in the shower when they showed up. I ran out to answer the door in a towel, quickly shaved my other armpit and dressed.

My sister spent the day being eight and my uncle spent his day being the kind of funny uncle an eight year old — and maybe a 25 year-0ld — loves. We filled a giant pumpkin bag with leaves that Samantha stomped down and she and my uncle threw leaves back and forth. She convinced him to buy even more bags and filled and arranged them all on his front lawn. He grilled out, we enjoyed dinner (I topped it off with some apple pie and ice cream) and we finished off the night by hanging some lights on his front porch.

It was a great chance for Samantha to get to know who I believe is her best uncle.Plus, the smell of the leaves and the changing colors really made me feel like Autumn was in full swing. I hadn’t noticed how quickly the leaves had changed and fallen

Last night I was so exhausted and sore but I couldn’t get to sleep. I popped some pain killers and eventually drifted off to sleep for a ridiculous amount of time before waking to no Internet. In lieu of checking email and working, I did dishes and put up even more Halloween decorations. Sorry if you received one of the million pictures that I sent.