Thanksgiving Break

I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving break went wonderful and ate all the food they wanted to eat. Mine was a blast and I enjoyed every minute of it, from eating all the food to just hanging out and spending time with my family.

My Thanksgiving starts on Wednesday when everyone comes over to my house to start cooking all the food. In years passed, Wednesday was a half day and I had to go to school so when I got home everyone was there already cooking and peeling potatoes, etc. I would come home and eat lunch with everyone and then go start the chores that I had to do while everyone cooked. This was the first year that I did not have school and I was home when everyone got there. This year I also did all my chores Monday and Tuesday, so when the family arrived at my house on Wednesday they made me learn how to cook. This is the first year that I actually helped cooked all the food and I even made the mash potatoes from scratch. I was not a fan of helping with the cooking I would have much rather done the cleaning like I am used to but it was kind of fun learning how to cook and having dishes at the Thanksgiving dinner table that I made. This is also good because now I can cook food when I am living on my own. (It is so weird because I LOVE food but I had no idea how to make it, now I do J) That night the boys come over after work and all the girls after cooking all day, sit down and eat dinner together. The girls normally take off of work Wednesday.

This year was not only different for me because I helped cook the food but because I had four family members die this year and two of the family members that passed away used to come over every Thanksgiving.

My grandpa was one of the people that died and the other was my great uncle. My great uncle lived in North Carolina and they would always come up to Chesapeake to have Thanksgiving dinner with us but because everyone down there is either getting old or getting married they started not to come up anymore. My grandpa, however, was always at Thanksgiving and he would help cook by telling us what else we needed to add to food, etc. I missed my grandpa a lot this year.

Then Thursday, the big turkey day, always starts off with the Macy’s Day parade. That day we do a couple chores to clean up from cooking the day before and the first dish we cook on Thursday is, of course, always the turkey. Then my mom and I go get dressed because the girls are going to come over at about 2pm to finish cooking all the dishes we did not finish the day before. Then the boys get there about 3pm and the rest of the family gets there about 5pm. All day we snack at the horsdoeuvres on the kitchen table and socialize. Then, 6pm rolls around and the table is already set and the dishes are slowly moving to the long dining room Thanksgiving dinner table. At 630pm everyone sits down in their seat so pictures are taken and grace is said. Right after, we dig in and eat until we cannot eat anymore. We talk for another hour after we eat, around the dinner table and then we clear it to go get the dessert. After we eat the dessert we sit around and talk for another hour. Then by then it is 1030pm and we start dividing the left overs. No one goes away empty handed. By the time everything is divided and the whole family leaves it is 11pm or 1130pm and after a full belly and long day it is time for bed.

This year, Thanksgiving was smaller and my family said I was a big help. That made me really happy that I was a big help.

Black Friday continues the Thanksgiving weekend with shopping until we drop, the only catch is my family starts at 6pm so we really shop until midnight or when the stores close, whichever one comes first. This was the first year that I only shopped with my family for two to three hours, because I left to go to a party where I could see all my friends I have not seen since I went to college. When I went to high school with them it was not that big of a deal because I saw them every day for six to seven hours straight.

Then we continue the Christmas shopping Saturday night after church. This is really nice because before the weekend is over we have done a good amount of shopping for ourselves and getting all our Christmas gifts. Some people are just impossible to buy for, it is like they have everything anyone could think of and if they do not have it, there is a reason and you should not get it as their Christmas gift. Christmas gift giving, shopping, etc. takes over the holiday and makes it so stressful. This is not fair because that is not what Christmas is about and that is what the media makes it about, taking away from the meaning of Christmas. I do, however, like that people’s spirits change during the Christmas season. I do not understand why right after Thanksgiving everyone is all of a sudden nicer, but it happens. This does give hope that the meaning of Christmas is not completely lost in gift giving and getting what you want for the Christmas. Some people are just so spoiled that if they do not get what they asked their parents for Christmas, then they get all mean. That is just not right and the parents should not tolerate it because they should be grateful for any present they receive.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and do not get too stressed out with Christmas shopping.

Random Topics That Somehow All Fit...

I think that it is important that while everyone is at college they not only focus on academics but they also focus on what makes them happy. How would they want to spend their time if they are not studying and hanging out with friends? I strongly believe that college is a time to “grow up”, figure out who you truly are, find out what you want out of life, explore and take chances, make mistakes (within reason), and let this be the best four plus years of your life. The first semester of college is almost over and we are going home this weekend for Thanksgiving break. We all are going to have stories to tell and we all have figured out what we need to improve. If you feel like you do not have either then either you do not get out or you are perfect. I know I have stories to tell (a lot has happened in the last couple of months) and I still need to improve on time management. I made the rule that I would have homework done two days before it is due that way I am not staying up really late the night before it is due. For me, everything seems to be due Wednesday so I like to have the majority if not all the homework done by Monday night and finish it up Tuesday morning. The only problem that is only feasible if I get a lot of homework done over the weekend. That is the hard part because I like breaks. I cannot wait until Christmas break.

As I was stating earlier, we should all find a club, an activity, or something that we look forward to every week. I look forward to swing dancing. It is so much. Last Friday night, the Solely Swing at Virginia Tech (the swing dancing club) had the Swingsgiving Dance in the Old Dominion Ballroom at Squires. They have held other dances such as the Halloween dance, the beach theme dance, etc. They offer free lessons for an hour before and then the social dance is after for $5. You do not have to stay but the only way to get better is to practice. What I mean by social dance is that you do not have to go with a partner; you will dance with tons of different people. It is a great way to meet new people and improve your dancing. The key thing about swing dancing is the guy leads and the girls follow. I hard as it is to lead it is just as hard to follow. The really good leaders are the ones you can dance with and not have a clue what you are doing but you are doing it right because they are leading well. The bad leaders are the ones that you have no idea what they are doing and you are trying to figure it out the whole song.

Random fact about swing dancing: the majority of the people I have talked to about their major are engineers. People think of the stereotypical engineer as someone who does not get out and all they do is homework, etc but there are not many swing dancers from other majors. Granted Virginia Tech is known for engineering so it is a pretty big college within the university.

Another random point, I do not know if you guys have heard but the Tidewater Area/ Coastal Plans, however you learned it in elementary school, had some bad flooding. All the public schools, Old Dominion University, Tidewater Community College, etc. were closed. If you know anything about that area you probably remember that they did not close down the Mid-Town tunnel for hurricane Isabel and it got flooded. Fishes were swimming in the bottom of the tunnel. Well last Thursday, they closed down the tunnel because the tide was supposed to be as high as it was for hurricane Isabel . After hurricane Isabel, houses were flooded, trees were in the middle of the street, houses did not have roofs, without power for eleven days ( I know some people were longer, actually some areas are not fully recovered yet from the hurricane it happened a couple of years ago), etc. The hurricane started heading towards Virginia Beach as a category five but then it went down to either a tropical storm or category one I cannot remember. It would not have done as much damage as it did if it were not for all the rains before it hit. That might have been the problem last Thursday because it was raining a couple of days before it really hit. I heard that Norfolk is flooded and the tide was as high as it was for hurricane Isabel. If you are not from that area you probably have a harder time understanding what I am talking about. The biggest point to get across is hurricane Isabel was nowhere near as bad as hurricane Katrina but it was bad. I watched trees fall on cars, watched two trees fall on one house and it cut it in thirds, watched trees fall right into the street, etc. The really good story about the tree falling on that persons house (they do not live there anymore, I have new neighbors) was the girl was in the room and the minute she walked out the tree fell right where she was standing. If she stayed there a minute longer then she probably would not be here today to tell the story. I know for everyone something big has happened while they were growing up. It ranges from natural disaster, the economy, to politics, to wars. Every generation has had one and future generations will get them.

What happened to us when we were little helped shape who we are today. Now that we are “on our own” it is time to make choices that will help shape the rest of our lives.

Christmas Time :)

What do you think about starting the Christmas season before Thanksgiving; how radio stations play Christmas music before Thanksgiving and all the stores start setting up. Where did all the Thanksgiving decorations go? I feel like you have to search hard for the Thanksgiving decorations.

When my roommate and I went to Target to buy stuff, I honestly do not remember what we went to get, we saw the Christmas stuff in the holiday section and we saw a pink Christmas tree with a pink tree skirt, and pink tree topper with pink ornaments and pink garland. My roommate and I like it causes it will match our pink room but everyone else is like “you should at least have a green Christmas tree” but then everything else can be pink. I do not understand because I like the pink tree because it is something different and not the same old same old. Do you think we should go back to Target to get the pink tree?

As my roommate and I were in that section we saw colorful Christmas lights and decided to buy them because they were only two dollars a strand. Each one bought a strand and decided to hang it all around the room. Now everyone is like “do you not know that Christmas is after Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving has not happened yet?” We say yes but we like them so it really does not matter. Plus rooms have had Christmas lights since we got here in August. I think it is just a college dorm room thing, personally. Do you have Christmas lights in your dorm room?

I was joking around with my roommate the other day saying since it is November, I bet there is a Christmas station on the radio. She was said “I think we should wait until after Thanksgiving to find it since we both like the radio station we are using now.” I forgot the channel but all it plays is popular music. I like it because since I have been at college I feel so isolated from the real world because I do not know what is going on. I listen to my iPod all the time so, it is hard to know the new songs everyone is singing. I do not like feeling out of the loop. We both agree that we would not find this radio station until after Thanksgiving. What do you think about the radio stations playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving?

I cannot wait until Christmas. There is something about Christmas, when everyone gets really nice and it only lasts until New Years and then everyone goes back to being the way they were before Thanksgiving. (Except for Black Friday, people go wild to start buying their Christmas presents. I know they have the best deals but every year, you always hear about someone dying because of a mad rush into the store. It is ridiculous if you ask me. Someone dies because they went shopping.) For example, everyone is trying to get gifts for the children’s parents that cannot afford them. The homeless shelters give away gifts to keep the homeless warm. Churches spend more time giving them a home in the winter than they do in the summer which never made any sense to me because they are going to be just as hot in the summer time as they are cold in the winter. Why cannot people be this nice all year? I understand that Jesus was born and American in general (I know I am stereotyping) goes all out and celebrating this holiday. We all start being really nice and giving and caring but does not Jesus want us to do this all year and not just during his birth day? Virginia Tech does a good job about caring all year round or at least during the school year because we have to get a certain amount of community service hours. I like that. Sometimes it feels like the whole reason why we are celebrating the holiday is gone because people focus too much on the gifts and not the good spirits. I know I just said up above that everyone gets nice and all the good spirits but with the good spirits comes the stress of the holiday. Getting all the Christmas presents for everyone and not leaving anyone out, making sure to have enough money to afford presents, etc.

For me, I have volunteered for Toys for Tots. What I did was go to a warehouse and everyone that received cards in the mail could come get some toys for their children to give to them Christmas morning. After volunteering, I am always in the Christmas spirit. We push the carts around and the soldiers go around and they just start putting stuff in the carts. At the end, the parent gets a Christmas present. They get so touched that they are getting a present they start crying and saying “Thank You” like a million times. This always makes me feel so good inside and like a helped someone out for Christmas. Everyone gets the Christmas spirit in different ways, for me it is volunteering for Toys for Tots. What helps you get the Christmas spirit?

Okay this is random but I have to admit that I have never watched Star Wars until last Friday. I saw episode three when it came out in the movie theatres because my best friend dragged me to go see it with her. Last Friday, I watched the fourth episode, you know the first one. I asked so many questions to figure out what was going on. It was really good; I did like it. My friends said to me when they found out that I have never watched Star Wars that I was a nerd wanna be lol. Well now I have seen it and I am not a nerd wanna be anymore. J

Halloween :)

Why does everyone love Halloween so much? Is it the candy, dressing up as anyone you want to be, or the fun parties? When little children get excited about Halloween it makes sense, they get to put down the school work and go door to door saying “trick or treat” and then get a hand full of candy. I know some houses even give away the king size candy bars, hot chocolate, water bottles, and cotton candy. Also, some houses have a hunted theme before you are able to get the candy. Those houses always scared me when I was little, I would never approach them, and my Dad would have to hold my hand as I walked back to get the candy. Why is hard to go alone but when you are holding someone’s hand it makes it all better? I think it is because people naturally do not like to be alone and the presents of someone makes it all better; that is why people tend to be social on a day to day basis. The haunted houses always had the best candy though, maybe it was because we had to go through the haunted part and the prize was at the end and the prize seemed better because we had to work hard for it.

Teenagers love Halloween because Halloween parties are sometimes the best. I know when I was too old to trick or treat for candy, all my friends and me went out trick or treating for UNICEF. The best part was you got money and candy. J This was a lot of fun because you got to pretend you were a little child, the only difference is you were not trick or treating with your parents you were trick or treating with your friends. After trick or treating, we would all go back to someone’s house and watch a movie, dance, and eat tons of candy. My biggest problem with that though is people do not put the candy wrappers in a trash can or even in a pile outside the bowl, they put them back in the bowl. That always made me a little upset but I would not let that ruin my evening.

College students love Halloween so much probably because the craziest parties happen on Halloween. I hear stories of people going out and not returning until about 6am. It was really cool that this year Halloween was on daylight savings so we had an extra hour to either sleep or party. I cannot remember if every year is like that but that was nice for this year. Most college students look forward to Halloween; it is proven by all the Facebook statuses saying I cannot wait until Halloween.

Parts of me think that college students love Halloween because they can pretend to be someone else. Like if a very conservative girl dressed up as a sexy Dorothy it is perfectly fine, no one thinks twice. If she wore anything sexy any other day of the year people would think she changed or something. It is crazy how they can get away with it.

Adults probably get excited because they feel like little kids again. They can be whoever they want to be. Like playing dress up as a child, only not and it is as an adult. Also, they get to watch all the little children dress up and even take their children trick or treating like they did when their parents took them when they were children.

I decided to look up Halloween on Urban Dictionary.com and the first definition was “An annual excuse for girls to dress like sluts and get away with it.” The second definition was “celebration where little kids dress up and get candy, teens dress up, get drunk, and go get candy, and adults dress up, get drunk, and give out candy, funny how things all work out.” WOW! I was right and it is funny how the definitions are right about that crazy cycle J

I decided to look up Halloween on Dictionary.com and the definition that pops up is “the evening of October 31; the eve of All Saints' Day; Allhallows Eve: observed esp. by children in costumes who solicit treats, often by threatening minor pranks.” That definition is a better one than urban dictionary.com but it is funny how it eludes to pranking each other. I guess that is how trick or treat came to be.

I decided to look up the origin of Halloween on Dictionary.com and the first thing that popped up was “c.1745, Scottish shortening of Allhallow-even "Eve of All Saints, last night of October" (1556), the last night of the year in the old Celtic calendar, where it was Old Year's Night, a night for witches. Another pagan holiday given a cursory baptism and sent on its way.Hallowmas "All-saints" is first attested 1389.” That is really cool how Halloween used to be where people believed that it was the start of a new year and now people believe that all it is is one night a year was you can dress up and be whatever you want to be.

I hope everyone had a safe and an awesome Halloween, I know I did. I went to the IV party and we watched movies, danced, ate food, had a costume contest, etc. We did not even watch Halloween movies we watched The Dark Night and X Men. They are both really good movies but I did not get to see the whole movie because I jumped in the middle of them and then I did not watch the end of them. It was really cool they way they had it set up because each apartment had something different going on in it. For example, room 6 and room 4 were the movie rooms, room 5 was the food room, and room 8 was the dancing and games room. It seemed like everyone at the party had a blast and I know I did. I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween. Happy Late Halloween!