Christmas is Come and Gone

Wow! Christmas was fun. This was the first year, however, that I realized that I didn't get a lot of "playing things". Yes, I got to unwrap, but I didn't get to open up the box and then play with the toy. That's what you get when you get older. I guess that the only reason why I noticed this was that as I am leaving the excitement of Christmas, Josh is just entering. I'll miss those toy days.

I did get a lot of presents for Christmas. In this post, I will do less writing and let the pictures tell the story. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. The pictures will start on the night before Christmas and end on the day after Christmas. Hope you enjoy my little bit of Christmas cheer.

Opening up this year's Christmas PJs.

Listening to Dad reading the traditional Christmas story, all in our uniform pajamas.

We got a little bored, so decided to have a tickle fight instead.

Nala, my cat, decided to just stare at us immature kids in disgust.

The perfect family photo, except for Josh's funny face. We didn't even realize he was doing it until we looked at the photo.

On Christmas morning, Josh and I jammed out on our new guitars.

I was excited to get my Dr. Pepper lip balm.

Examining my new, delicate earrings.

One of this year's favorite presents for me... new games for my DS.

I played Kirby all day long. Thanks Nona!!!

This puzzle was supposed to last us all week. Instead, the family finished the 300 piece in 30 minutes. We bought a new 1500 piece puzzle the next day.

Josh and I played Jenga the day after Christmas. He won of course.

Countdown to Christmas

Well, last Saturday my family and our neighbors went to Six Flags over Texas, an overpriced amusement park that makes its money off of $9 chicken nuggets. It can be fun, though. The only reason why we went is that my mom won two tickets at an auction. Those tickets, along with some other coupons, got us in. Six Flags is doing Holiday in the Park, where there are Christmas lights galore and Santa hats everywhere. I went on my first actual roller coaster, well, I've been on many that go upside down and shoot up quickly, but this was the first that I was actually scared to go on. The Titan begins with a 45 second ascent that descends in 4 seconds. After that first hill, the rest of the 85 mph ride was great. For the majority of the coaster, my bottom was not touching the seat. Next I rode the Super Man which is a tower that shoots you straight up, then down, then back up, over and over. It's fun and really gives you that weightlessness feeling. I've rode it before, but the ride is still intimidating. The experience would have been more fun if it was 70 degrees like it was supposed to be. Instead, the temperature hovered around 33. I was wearing a short sleeved T-shirt, a light jacket that Mom forced me to wear and a scarf I stole from Mom. It was a bit chilly.

Riding the Holiday train at Six Flags.

Shivering in line for the Super Man.

Strapping in to the dirty but warm seat of the Super Man tower.

On Sunday, the family went caroling with the missionaries at our church. It was fun, especially the dinner served before and the chocolate fountain afterwards.☺Then on Tuesday, we went to see Santa and a train display at the mall. The Santa was great and very nice. The trains were okay; it was the largest display of vintage trains in Texas. The exhibit was cool and traversed through America, from San Francisco to New York. I was getting sick though (I have a cold) so I left early. It was too crowded and hot for my comfort.

Sitting on Santa's lap. His hand looks like a thumbs up, but really he was motioning for the helper to turn on the fan.

The Dallas part of the train exhibit.

The Holiday scene in Washington D.C.

Imagine This

O.K. So imagine this: You walk into the airport after your mom picks you up from school early. You are expecting your cousin, who is coming from Toronto. So you sit at the exit for international baggage claim and your cousin just won't call your mom saying she had landed. You stare at the stark white walls, wondering and getting a little suspicious. Why did your mom keep bugging you about getting flowers for a cousin you saw just a couple days ago. Then, Mom says, "There he is!" He? What? Where's Aubrey? That's when you see him, your dad. At first, you think it's a dream, that can't be him, he's in India. Then he gets a huge smile and you run up and give him the first hug in weeks. You try to hold back tears of joy, but they come loose. That was my situation yesterday. Yes, Dad's home for the holidays! I am so happy, but mad at Mom for keeping it a secret for 9 days! I asked why and she said it wasn't final. I responded, "What about yesterday, when he was on the plane. You could have told me then?" I don't like surprises, if you can't already tell. We took him home, updating him all the way on all the happenings and finally you reach home. We were at home for about 5 minutes, and then Josh came home from school. The first thing he did was pull out a cookie that had frosting died red from all of the sprinkles and M&Ms and handed it to me. Earlier that day, I told Josh I wanted a cookie from his Christmas party (I did actually eat the thing, though hesitantly). He was so absorbed into giving me the cookie, he didn't notice Dad. Finally Dad said, "Hey Josh!" Then my brother looked up and cried, "Daddy!" as he rushed into his fathers open in arms. Mom, my neighbor who dropped Josh up, and I held back tears as we watched the scene right from a sad movie.

Dad reading Josh a story from a book that kept him sane in India☺

It is Christmas Break! I spent pretty much all of yesterday afternoon looking at the rupees (Indian currency) with Dad. They are sooooo cool! That is how I spend my free time (along with solving the Rubik's cube☺). Anyway, I hope you all have a Happy Christmas Break!

A sample of Indian currency.

The back of the ten rupee bill.

Getting Back to the Cube

A couple summers ago, I could solve the Rubik's cube in under 2 minutes. I spent a couple of weeks memorizing the moves off of a solution on the Internet. Well, two years later, everyone at school is trying to solve the cube. You are "super smart" if you can solve one and "super cool" if you own one. Well, I decided to re-memorize the steps. I'm doing pretty well; yesterday I solved the cube in under 5 minutes with some help from the instructions on the hardest step.

My cousin, Aubrey, and her husband flew in today, Tuesday. My mom picked me up early from school so I could spend some time with them. It was so cold! About 25 degrees. I had fun hanging out with them; they are so funny! Anyway, Aubrey is supposed to come back on Friday (Curtis, her husband, is a pilot and Aubrey is a flight attendant. They fly to Dallas sometimes). I can't wait to see them again!

Aubrey and my brother, See the Rubik's cube in Josh's hand?

Let them eat Cake!

Well, I made a cake, if that counts. A couple days ago, I baked a cake for my mom's birthday. We went to see a movie (Bolt, it was actually pretty good), and went to eat lunch at Red Robin's. It was a fun day. The cake was awesome, though we still have a ton of left overs. I think my mom had a good time.

Frosting the first layer of the layered cake. Afterwards, Josh went nuts with the sprinkles.

Mom lighting her candles. This picture turned out good, unusual with me behind the camera☺

Last Sunday, we went to Bethlehem Revisited, a place where everyone dresses up like in the time Jesus was born. You can see King Herod as he talks with the wise men, and walk with Joseph and Mary, the shepherds, or the wise men as they journey to the star. It is really cool. After you see the play, you can go look at a village which is set up to take on the time's feeling. Josh and I scored some rosemary and two little hand made coins. We also got to pet the incredibly soft chickens, goats, and sheep. The chickens were the best. One actually fell asleep in a little boy's arms. It was adorable! Mom wants one, but I don't think we could take care of it.

Then, on Monday, I played at my Christmas piano recital. I messed up one song (my hands were to cold, I hadn't practiced very much, and I knew I was going to mess up), but did very well on my duet, O Holy Night, with my friend, Sammy. Afterwards, we went to Ci Ci's and I had a great time with all my friends in the arcade. Josh and his friend almost busted the air hockey table, Andrew and Kyle stole some basketballs out of the Hoops game, Josh almost hit Oliver in the face with a basketball, and we all had fun trying out the broken motorcycle game. It was a memorable experience.

Getting ready to play on the grand piano.

Hi Again

It's been a long time since I last wrote and I apologize for that. It's been a crazy past couple of weeks with all kinds of school work, piano, etc. Well, my dad is doing great! He went to see the Pune Zoo and found that the tiger, if he really wanted to, could jump out over the railing. Pretty scary! He's lost a bit of weight, but he is healthy.

Life's been good. Yesterday was the Church Christmas party and, with my mom in charge, I didn't really get to spend the time with my family. It was fun though, chatting with friends and relaxing.

Thursday was a bit of a stressful day for me, not for anything really bad, though. In Science class, we had to build a mini roller coaster out of flexible pipe and tape. My group was doing great; the day before, we had practiced building the thing and were confident in our "Frostbite" (the name for our awesome coaster). However, we only had 30 minutes to build on presentation day, so we were a bit rushed. We were making great time when, suddenly, the marble wouldn't finish into the cup placed at the end. We kept at it, but by minute 29, we were pretty frantic. Why? If the marble made it through the roller coaster, you made an A; if it fell off, you received an F for the project. We responded in different ways: I was pacing the floor trying to think of a solution, one of the team members actually started praying, and everyone was a mess as we saw the teacher walk slowly towards are project. Finally, D-Andre said, "Put a piece of tape right there!" We were pretty game for anything, so we did as he said. We dropped the marble, Suzy, at the starting point and after 2 seconds, the marble landed safely in the cup. We tried again: it worked again. We were so happy, that when the teacher walked up to grade us, we were dancing together. My grade? 100! In my opinion, our roller coaster was the best after all that hard work; it displayed a paper tunnel, flags showing where inertia was overcome, where the speed changed, etc, and little signs saying things like, "Please enjoy your ride" and "Please exist to the left" (I was rushed so I wrote 'exist' instead of 'exit'). I was very proud of my group; we worked well together.

So that pretty much sums up the past week, fretting over little school projects, papers, and benchmarks. How was your week, Be Happy readers?