I did not believe it when I saw it. I was in Edinburg, Texas, it was Christmas eve and outside it was snowing. Growing up in the Valley, I had never seen snow. The first time I saw snow was when I was 19 at Cornell. This is south Texas...it's hot here...so most people here have never seen snow....a white christmas is something we dream about but know we will never see. So we are opening presents with my family on Christmas eve (it might be a Mexican thing that we do it early), and the kids look outside and it is covered in snow. It was like a miracle, I think there was a movie where it snowed on Christmas in LA, but this was real and we all run outside to enjoy a true and first white christmas, something I dreamed about as a child, but never thought I would see. I think my father and I were the only ones that had seen snow before, my nieces and nephews were in bliss. They made snow angels, threw snow balls, and we started working on a snow man. They learned they were not as easy to make as in the movies, but we worked for over an hour putting together quite the snowman. We put on Christmas music and it was truly like a sappy movie. The neighbors were outside, and everyone was so happy. My niece Sara came up to me and you could just see her eyes glowing as she embraced me in a hug and told me that it was the best Christmas of her life. Well, my life has been much longer and this was truly up there. I don't usually rank Christmas, but second to the last christmas I spent with my sister Vero, this was the best Christmas I had ever had. We were in the middle of opening presents and no one cared, they just wanted to be outside.
I took as many pictures as I could and as dorky as all this sounds, we didn't care, we were so very happy. The last time I think it snowed down here was 1895 or so and this time we got 3.5 inches of snow. Victoria, Texas got 11 inches . This actually made the national news. Whether this was a present from above or just the effects of Bush's gobal warming policies, it was damn cool. Here is a fun footnote. My younger sister's co-worker wanted her children to see snow for christmas so she arranged a trip to take them up north so they could experience a white christmas, who would have known they could have just stayed home.
We finally finished opening presents and went to bed at about 4am and the next morning everyone woke up to see everything covered in snow Christmas morning. By Christmas night, all that was left of our snowman was the hat and carrot and it was like it never happened. My trip down here has been nice and relaxing. When I got here I went with my sisters, brother, tia Mati and tio Jesse, and Bekkah and Jamie to Progresso, Mexico. We went shopping and my sister got a peticure. Going to Mexico is always an experience. You experience poverty unlike that that is easily found in the US and you just try to distance yourself from it in order to enjoy the cheap prices, culture and experience. We walked around and my sister and aunt got a peticure and since my back had been hurting from all the studying, I got a 20 dollar 45 min massage. It was the first I had ever had and it really helped out. We ate tacos at a taco stand with coke in bottles, which is great coke, and though different from American coke, some people like it better.
Early in my trip home, I went over to Rick's place to hang out with him and my friend Juan. It was nice chatting up and learning about what was going on in their lives. I find it very relaxing to just chill out and drink and talk and it has become a staple on my trips home since I left for college. My cats are being taken care of my a friend of mine and I really owe him big for going through all the trouble of doing me this favor. He told me how he thinks Koki, or the big one as he called her, is going through withdraw symptons and misses me a lot...she really wants to be petted. As much as I don't want to use my cats as an emotional crutch or excuse not to socialize with people, I miss them a lot. They really make me feel at peace. There is just something about laying down and relaxing as Koki lays on my chest purring and sleeping as I pet her. They are so low maintance in that they don't need constant attention, but when they want it, I'm usually happy to give it to them. Sometimes you get home and you relize you are alone, living far away from your true home, your family, your close friends, but having a pet there waiting for you, happy to see you, just makes you feel happy.
Christmas is for the kids. I know people always says it's about giving, but honestly, I feel like I care more about what I get people than what I get now. I guess I'm used to not expecting anything big since no one I know is really well off, so things I want I usually get for myself. So the key is trying to find things that you think someone will enjoy. I didn't plan to buy presents this year because of the not working thing and the debt I have amassed. Who would have thought that a year ago I had a savings account of almost 10,000 dollars I had been working so hard on building and a year later it would be gone and my credit card debt alone would be twice that. I went shopping with my brother Abram and I couldn't help but buy things. I got a set of nice knives for my sister Ana because she just moved into a new house and I thought they would look nice in her kitchen. I also got her wine stoppers for her wine theme. Then I got my sister a great blender and my brother got her glasses to use the blender for. I also got her a candle set. I got my mom a massager chair pad and my brother got her Audrey Hepburn dvds. She named Eliza after Eliza Dolittle, so we thought she would enjoy the set. My brother got my dad an Ax and I got him gloves and an electronic tape measure. I like gadgets, so I hope others will too. My got my niece Bekkah a nice vanity mirror for all the makeup she has been getting and keep trying to instill in her the cliche of "less is more" when it comes to makeup. Jamie her littler sister got a Shel Silverstein book I enjoyed so much growing up and a Lincoln Park/Jay Z CD she wanted. I got my nephews a gift certificate and the other cards (like pokemon, but not) and my youngest niece Tory 7 dollars inside a plastic ball that she will need a hammer to break to get the money out. We ran out of time ok. I also got my grandmother an ionic breeze for her allergies, a product which I really enjoy. For my brother I paid for the presents he purchased as my gift to him.
So we do the Christmas Eve presents thing, the aforementioned snow thing and then Christmas Day Bekkah and Jaime come over and open their presents and then we had a Christmas party for the extended family, including my grandparents, aunts and uncles. At night, I went over to Rick's to play some Poker with him, Sam, my brother and Cousing Rino. Abram ended up coming out on top at the end of the night, but I always consider my buy-in as the price for having a good time. I plan to read up on the game more and start to learn to play right instead of just for fun how I am playing now.
On the 26th we celebrated my Dad's bday, he turned 57. I think I stopped counting at 45. We went out to eat at Trevinos and though their Mexican food has been lacking the last few years, this year it was great. I had eaten at Red Lobster, Chilis and Trevinos, so by the time it was my bday we passed on the going out to eat thing.
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