Past and Future

I can hardly believe that another Christmas has come and gone. It is ridiculous how quickly this year went by! Today while I was driving, I realized that I never even took time this Christmas to listen to my Josh Groban Christmas CD! There was just no time! Christmas was over too quickly! And once Christmas is over... it is over. Like, I can't listen to that CD until next Christmas. Because that is the way I do things. lol. 

I didn't take many pictures this year... but I do have a few. They are weird. lol. 

Christmas Eve started with me getting up at four to go to work for a few hours. Work was fun because everyone was in really good moods. And then I went out for breakfast with Trish, Clari, and Joy. And that was fun because... well, it was with Trish, Clari, and Joy. =) 

And then I forget what I did in the afternoon. lol. 

But the evening is where things went a little crazy. lol. 

Mom and Dad were downstairs doing some last minute wrapping. 

So Wendy and I took advantage of the fact that there was no one to stop us, and ran around upstairs screaming. lol. And then we got tired, so we took pictures of ourselves! 

Notice the cardboard roll that Wendy is holding in her hands. Very entertaining! 

Worst picture of me ever! lol.

So Wendy and I "broke" the coffee table. We were just sitting on the couch! Not even touching it. Well, we may have been touching it a little bit. The tiniest bit. And all of a sudden... it was tippy! lol. So Wendy said, "We must find a plumber to fix this!" (which I found hilarious for many reasons. Mainly because I am pretty sure that plumbers do not deal with coffee tables. But whatever. =)) and so I said "Oh Keeeeeeeeennnnnntttttttoooooonnnnn!!!! We neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed you!!!!" So Kenton came and fixed it, and then Dad came and said that we hadn't actually broken it, because it had been broken before and I said "Of course we didn't break it. We were just sitting on the couch!". Notice the cardboard roll in the lower left corner of the picture. Still entertaining. 

Then Renee came along and joined in the fun.

Then we went to see lights at Waterloo Park. 

Okay... so ducks don't get cold?? I don't know. All I know is that they were awesome! They were making this cool noise! I could have prolly just sat there all night and listened and watched!

Wendy liked them too! She couldn't even take her eyes off of them long enough for me to get a picture!

And then... on the 26th, we went to Nana's to do some final clearing out. It's weird being somewhere so familiar and realizing that this is the last time you will be there. Empty rooms are weird too.

These steps were always the awesomest for sitting on. Seriously. They are downright comfortable. One time I fell asleep on these stairs. That's how comfy they are.

One very empty sewing room... that used to be exceptionally full. 

I don't know why I took a picture of the light. I was just lying on my back in the middle of the living room floor, and thought I should take a picture. 

Yeah... we spent a lot of time at this place. 

Okay... so that was the past. Now let's talk about the future. =) 

I rarely feel like I achieve the new year's resolutions that I set for myself. Mostly because often, they involve certain character qualities, and how do you know when you have achieved true patience or true trust? In fact, I don't know if you do achieve them. I wonder if you maybe have to constantly work at them. That sounds exhausting. lol. But patience and trust are two things that I am going to seriously need to work on this year. So I'm going to work on that. 

But I have also made some resolutions that I think I can actually keep. Like they are kind of little things, and I hope that at the end of 2013, I can look back and be like, "Oh yeah! I did that! And that! And that! And..." yeah. lol. 

So I am going to write about a few of them. 

-I am going to do a better job of keeping up with current events. As in, I am going to make an effort to know something about what is going on. lol. I really do live in my own little world. And I am very happy here! It's a warm, golden place, with a lot of peanut butter cups and chicken. But there is a bigger world out there! Sometimes I hear bits and pieces of what is going on out there and I'm like "What???? That guy is still prime minister???" Just kidding. It's not that bad. (It is pretty bad though. lol.) Also, if I do decide to pursue journalism, reading the newspaper doesn't seem like something I will regret. Maybe I will subconsciously learn how to be a good reporter. lol. 

-I am going to wear my contacts more often. I hate putting them in. And I know that the more times I do it, the easier it will be. It's just that I hate doing it. This morning I lost my glasses. It is a terrible thing to lose one's glasses. Mainly because if you need glasses, it means that you can't see without them, and therefore, if you lose them, the chances of you finding them are slim, due to the fact that you are half blind. Anyways... I did find them. They were in my bed. All tangled up in my blankets. Apparently I forgot to take them off last night. I was rather tired by the time I went to bed. lol.

-I am going to take better care of my face. lol. This past year... it has not been easy for my face. First, I put it through the stress of finishing high school. And then, I spent an excessive amount of time in the sun this past summer. And then I exposed it to unusual amounts of oil and flour at Hillcrest. So yeah. I'm sorry, face. Next year will be better. Brighter, clearer. I promise. I mean like, I will do everything in my power. 

-I am going to spend more time writing. Probably not a whole lot more blogging. But maybe! Who knows? I will mostly be focusing on doing more writing in my prayer journal, and also the book I have been working on for waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. Time to get this one finished, folks. I have been with these characters a long time, and I am starting to get seriously attached. I didn't realize how attached I really was, until some of the ladies at Hillcrest were talking about how they don't like reading fiction. They like real stories. And all of a sudden, in my head, I was talking to Rylie and thinking things like "Don't listen to them, Ry! Seriously! You and I, we have our good days, and we have our bad days. Some days I look at you, or I listen to what you are saying, and I go 'what in the world is she thinking???'. And then other times you completely surprise me with what you are really thinking. Sometimes I don't get you. Sometimes you are exactly the same as me. But often, you catch me completely off-guard, simply because I don't know what to expect from you next. You don't always follow the outline that I made for you. You are kind of silly that way! It was a good outline. So nice. Your story fit perfectly in 20 chapters. But you apparently think differently. And that's okay... I guess it's your story anyways. The important thing is that people learn from your mistakes and share your discoveries and believe the truths that you are clumsily trying to present. Sometimes, Ry, you ask tough questions, and I don't even know how to go about answering them, and they scare me, because they are often the same questions that I have... I just never realized it until you verbalized it. And then I am the one who has to try to find the answers. But I like that you do that, because the feeling that you get when you think about something, and find that answer makes it completely worth it. You may be a fictional character, Rylie, but I think you are very real. You love, and you laugh, and cry, and make incredibly lame jokes, and get angry, and get hurt, and learn, and fail, and succeed, and serve. Sometimes I think that you and your story seem just as real (or more real!) than any true story. Because let me tell you, a true story has to be pretty exceptional if it is going to interest people. You, however, are not particularly exceptional. I mean, I love you (most of the time anyways), but you are kind of normal, and the things that happen to you could happen to anyone, and in that sense, your story is more realistic than a true story that took place under exceptional circumstances. You surprise me, and you make me wince sometimes, and if I don't spend enough time with you, I miss you and I start to feel like I don't even really  know myself anymore. You teach me something nearly every time we work together. And someday I think that you and I should share this story that you are living and I am typing out with other people, because stories are meant to be shared, and they are meant to entertain and amuse, and they are meant to teach. Jesus taught with stories. He did it often. He did it to make great truths applicable to the common people. He did so that they could at least begin to grasp the deep concepts that he came to share with us. And it worked. And since you and I are working together to follow His example.... I think that your story could definitely be used for His glory." 

-I am going to try do a better job of disguising the fact that I am actually completely insane by not talking to my fictional characters anymore. lol. 

Okay.. I think that is all that I am planning on sharing here. =) 

I hope that everyone's 2012 was as good as mine was, and that 2013 is even better! I think that I know approximately one thing that is going to happen in 2013, and that is it. lol. In past years, I have always made a list of things that I know are going to happen. But this year... that would be a very short list, so I am not even bothering with that. 

I think this may be where the trust thing comes in again. ;)