Merry Christmas everyone!
This is the first real post I’m putting on the new site. So think of it as a grand opening post of sorts. This is the first year since the end of high school that we put up a tree during the holidays – albeit a very small tree. The reason for the lack of the iconic Christmas symbol was that back during my undergraduate years at Columbia, my finals often ended on the 19th or 20th. The official last day to take a final was apparently December 23rd, although to my knowledge no one was unlucky enough to end up taking a test on that day. Taking into consideration packing and traveling, I usually didn’t get back until the 22nd or 23rd. Without me being there, my parents lacked the motivation to go out and get a tree, and when I come back, most trees are sold out. Of course, there’s also the fact that often the tree would stay up until March, as my dad was usually too lazy to take it down until all the leaves are dead brown in color.
This year, I wanted a bit of the Christmas spirit of old back in our household. However, after taking into account the amount of effort in both setup and cleanup (I’m usually not there for the cleanup) in the procurement of a full sized tree, I decided to go for a smaller variation. In the end, I ended up getting a 3.5 foot imitation tree from Wal-Mart for $15. However, with some decor, it actually turned into a pretty good centerpiece for our living room. As for gifts, I got my dad a 16GB USB drive and my mom a cell phone holder case. It seems that every time my mom gets into her car she misplaces her cellphone somewhere, so hopefully when I’ve attached the new holder to her car, she’d won’t be having that problem in the future. I also made a Christmas card which I sent to my cousin and uncle living on the East Coast.
So far my Christmas day has been fairly uneventful. After waking up at around noon to consume a simple family lunch, I had to help my dad plant a tree in our front yard. Since my family here in the area consists only of my parents, we don’t have huge family gatherings. Normally, our family and our neighbors have a dinner party at night, but this year both of our immediate neighbors are on vacation so it’s going to be a fairly quiet day. I hope everyone had a good Christmas day =)