Merry Christmas!

I’m sure all of you are excited about the upcoming holiday. Or, you’re completely stressed out, trying to finish your shopping and decorating. As of last night, I am done with my shopping, and since I’ve only decorated for myself and my boyfriend, I finished that weeks ago. Now, I get to simply sit back and wait for Christmas to come. I’d like to share my prediction of how Christmas will be for me:

On Monday, Christmas Eve, my boyfriend and I will pack up all of our presents and head over to my aunt and uncle’s house in Bremerton for her annual family get-together. My parents and my younger brother will be there, along with a lot of cousins and my other aunt. We’ll have buffet-style food (most of which I’ll hate) and my uncle will force us to sing Christmas carols. My parents will talk about going to Midnight Mass, but we’ll all end up going back to their house on Bainbridge. We’ll watch the Vatican Mass on TV and Dad will criticize their choir (he used to be the choir director at our church), and then we’ll watch St. Paul’s Midnight Mass Live from Seattle. If we’re lucky, my brother, my boyfriend, and I will get to watch It’s a Wonderful Life before we go to bed.

My boyfriend and I will not sleep much, as we rarely do when we stay at my parents’ house. For one thing, the entire house has hardwood floors now, so every sound echoes. My dad will be up at about 6:30, and we’ll listen as he fetches the paper, grinds and makes the coffee, empties the dishwasher. He tends to forget that everyone else is asleep. My mom will be snoring in the next room, and my boyfriend and I will lie there until about 8:00, when we’ll join my dad downstairs. We’ll eat croissants and I’ll have coffee, as we wait for everyone else to get up. My mom and my little brother will finally emerge at about 10:00, but my parents will insist on waiting for my older brother and his family to arrive before we open presents, which have filled the entire side of the living room where the tree stands because my parents have gone overboard again this year. Mom will probably have a few more presents to wrap, so she’ll disappear back into her room. If I’m smart, I’ll use this lull in activity to take a shower, as after presents, there’s always a mad rush to the bathroom.

Finally, my brother and his family will arrive and we’ll all settle down to open our presents. Someone will play Santa, usually either Dad or my little brother, and pass out everyone’s presents. We’ll start out by taking turns, but eventually, we’ll all be ripping presents open, only pausing to watch someone open whatever we gave them. Then, we’ll fetch the stockings from the family room and go through them, watching for the inevitable orange in the toe (which I’ll give to my boyfriend).

Almost immediately after opening presents, maybe even before they’ve had a chance to shower, my parents will start preparing dinner. They always serve prime rib, and it’s usually huge, so it takes all day to cook. We’ll be expecting some old family friends who always come to our Christmas dinner. They love my parents’ cooking, and even flew in for dinner one year when they lived in California. My boyfriend and I will play with my nephew, who should be old enough to really enjoy Christmas this year, and my parents will drink and cook with their friends in the kitchen. We’ll all sit down to an incredible dinner, probably two hours after the intended time. My boyfriend and I will probably end up on the very last ferry out of Bainbridge and won’t get home until about 2:30 am. But we’ll be full, tired, and happy after spending time with our loved ones.

I hope that all of you have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Blogging is hard!

I haven’t had the motivation to post to this blog in a while, and I want to apologize! I promise to post up something really intelligent very soon!

Christmas Decorations

I wanted to share some pictures of my Christmas decorations. I live in a small townhouse, but I had a lot of fun decorating even my humble home. This is the first time I’ve had my own Christmas tree, and although it’s fake, hung with cheap, plastic ornaments, and I couldn’t get a star to put on top, I’m quite pleased with the results.

Below is a picture of my fireplace mantel. It only has tinsel (our stockings are at my parents’ house). The two plates are Wedgwood Jasperware, and they are commemorative Christmas plates for 1978 and 1979, the years my boyfriend and I were born. They were an early Christmas present from my mom. Next to the plates are two framed pictures of fairies, and then on one end is a bouquet of lavender, a purple tea light hurricane lantern, and at the other end is an oil lantern. Just random stuff. Oh, and that thing hanging on it is a Crabtree and Evelyn air freshener made of sea shells.

12/10 – Human Rights Day

I am honored to share my birthday with Human Rights Day. In anticipation of the 59th anniversary of the U.N.’s Declaration of Human Rights, and to get you all thinking about these vitally important issues, I want to share a part of this momentous Declaration with you all, and give you some information about ways you can help.

“On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and ‘to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.’”

PREAMBLE
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Source: www.UN.org

Here are some other sites with more information:

Amnesty International

Human Rights Watch

The Human Rights Web

Human Rights First

I hope that with the holiday season approaching, you can all find some time to help those with no power to help themselves. At the very least, you can make yourselves more aware of the injustices suffered by billions of people around the world. Remember these people on December 10th!

A change of seasons

It’s almost time for total relaxation!

At this moment, my boyfriend is watching his final lecture for his Roman history class. After that, he has his final exam. I have two final essays to write this week, one for Gender and Politics, and one for my American literature class, and two more assignments in International Politics. Our Christmas tree is up, though not decorated, and we have a string of white Christmas lights framing our living room window and front door. The season is changing. At the end of this week, I will be done with my first semester at WSU. I will have only completed three of my four classes, but I should be getting good grades in the classes I do finish. My boyfriend will have some more work to complete next week, but he’s also seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now.

It’s been a really rough time for us. My boyfriend has spent the last four months buried under mounds of homework, and I have been on an emotional roller coaster. In fact, my doctor is changing my birth control pill to help me with my uncontrollable mood swings, which have been making our lives miserable. It’s a testament to my boyfriend’s patience that he hasn’t killed me yet.

With the holiday season comes my birthday, December 10th, and this year I’ll be turning 28. Although, it’s just a number, I’m really realizing that it’s only 2 years away from being 30, which is how old my boyfriend will be in January. My season seems to be changing, too…I feel old! Here I am in college, struggling to get a degree that will hopefully be worth more than the career I gave up last year. I should have done this years ago. I should be living in a house that I own, working at a job that pays enough for me to be able to afford a new car, instead of the 1988 junker that I have. I should be light-years ahead of where I am.

But, I am where I am. This Christmas, I’m going to relish the three weeks away from school, and remind myself that I’m doing this for a reason, and that my diverse life experience, which I do value, has given me a perspective that otherwise, I would never have. I’m going to re-read my favorite books, watch my favorite movies, and take my boyfriend away from his computer for the first time in four months. I mean, his face is practically turning green from writing too many papers!