Merry Christmas!!

I'm not really sure what to type about, but I guess I'll just mention the thoughts as they come up. First: My oldest nephew-turned-brother has gotten very chubby. He has leg hair, armpit hair, possibly chest hair, and sometimes can be stinky. He's wearing a 2XL in mens!! And very little of it is muscle, let me tell you. :( It's not good for him!! My sister told me that Chance had a near mini stroke or something a while back, and no one told me. HE started having chest pains while I was there, and his mother was sending him into a panic attack because she was freaking out and causing him to freak out way more. So I stepped in, took him to the living room sat him down and asked if he had drunk any water that day. I knew he'd had two sodas (Because he'd gone to the movies with us, and his mother had just given him more soda), but he said he didn't have any water. I told him it was likely because he's dehydrated that his muscles had started to seize up, and he needs to drink at least 2 big glasses of water a day. He went and got some water, calmed down, and about then his mom came back with my mom, and even Papa emerged from his cave. Mom took charge and asked what happened, and between the two of us we explained that he felt a tugging near his heart that was probably due to dehydration.

Now for the honesty: I'm not sure if it's dehydration. I remember having that sensation when I lived there, but I never felt like it was important enough to mention. I think it could be the smoke he's constantly inhaling just as much as it could be dehydration. But I KNOW that freaking out, grabbing his shoulders, and raising your voice at him about "What's wrong? Where does it hurt? MOM!!" is not the way to treat someone that's already scared and confused about what's going on. I could wish that my parents would straighten up, stop smoking, and monitor his food intake a little more, but the chances of that happening are so low, even I wouldn't bet on it. I just know that if they could do that, he would be much healthier.

Second: My younger nephew Kay, is still super cute, but he's even more desperate for attention and love than he used to be. He rough-houses a bit (and always ends up on my injuries), he still likes clothes and shoes (and his mom derides him for it, but not as much as she did before), he's still quite obedient (though he argued with Hubby about Hubby not being someone he had to listen to), and he hates going to sleep by himself (but his mom still tries to make him do it). He slept with us on Christmas Eve, and boy does he snore!! I got in bed, he started snoring, and I was aghast. 'Did they seriously give me ANOTHER snore-lax???' is what I first thought. As you all know, Hubby is an incredible snorer. Well, I got lucky. Kay slept turned toward Hubby for most of the night, and just stuck his butt in my face (bleh). We were all happily sleeping until 8 a.m. when my sister got tired of waiting for the kids to wake up and went to wake them up herself. She's over 30!! Hubby and I were leaving that day, and wouldn't have been able to take a nap even if we wanted to!!! And her stupid ass comes in and wakes us all up because she didn't want to wait!! What is WRONG with that woman? Well either way, we were all up at eight, and opening gifts. We took a bit of video of everyone saying Merry Christmas and then put the video down. I helped Papa hand out gifts, then settled down to open ours.

Let me see if I can remember what we got. A mini-cupcake baker, a cake ball baker (think takoyaki), butterfly sconces, butterfly soap, 8 pairs of chopsticks, chinese hanging things from the Olympics, insulated reuseable bags, and socks. We probably got more, but those were our shared gifts. Momma got Hubby a box of butterfingers (And I like the box a lot- Can't wait to use it), and a valet box for his keys and stuff. I don't remember much of anything I got besides those things.

After that, Momma started yawning and said she was going to lie down for a while. That was at like 9. Hubby and I got hungry, and ended up eating cake and stuff for breakfast. Kay joined us and he and I had chocolate milk with our cakes. Then Chris (my sister) put a gross movie with nudity and stuff on, and sent Kay to OUR room with his DVD player to watch his new spongebob movie. Hubby and I packed up and put everything in the car (Hubby did it, so it's pretty disorganized. I'm itching to go rearrange it, but it's raining outside), and I sat with Kay and played with him for a while. Next thing I knew, it was 12, and we had planned to leave around 1. So I went to wake up my mom and found that Papa was ALSO napping (he snuck in. Poor guy. He's so lonely cause Momma won't sleep with him cause he keeps the room too hot). I  tried to wake up Momma, but she just said "Okay, Bye" so I was like, screw this. I texted T to see if he ever got into town, and found that he was waiting for us.

So we left, but poor Kay, he was asking if we would take him to the park. It was too cold, and we were leaving, so I said no. I feel really guilty now. I mean, we took him to coffee and the car wash, and Food Lion, but we didn't do that much with him. I wish I could have done something special with him like we did with Chay when we took him to the movies with us. And then Kay wouldn't let me have a nice picture on my phone of him. I have some good video though. :( Still sad.

Then Hubby reminds me: We still have to drop off the pot that Grandma gave us to to give to Ninny. So we stopped by, and I handed it off and we went to visit T. It was a really short visit (cause we were already running late), but it was great to see him. Then we had to swing by and pick up the candy we'd forgotten that Momma got for Hubby's parents. I feel like the two couples are very similar and would get along really well, but possibly inspire each other to be even more religious and forbearing than they already are, and so I want to them to be friendly, but I'm scared of it at the same time.

Oh, speaking of religion. Miss Mimi called on Christmas Eve with her mom (via three-way), and because she was rude to Nana and she'd had a bad day, she started crying. So we got on with Mimi, her foster mom, her real mom, me, and Momma. We all talked with her, got her calmed down and knowing that we're all trying to get her, we all love her, blah blah blah. Then the wench said something really religious, and I merely said "Well, I'm not Christian Mimi." and she went OFF. "What do you MEAN you're not Christian?? How do you expect to get me when you're not a Christian?! Do you KNOW what you're saying?! Blah blah blah." so I had to answer her, right? "Look Mimi, it took me years to come to the decision to not be Christian, it isn't right to discriminate against me because I'm not, Hubby is still Christian and can take you to church if you want to go, and just because I'm not Christian doesn't mean I'll stop you from being one." Then Mimi made some joke about me preaching and her and her foster mom laughed while I was still sitting there offended.

Let me expand a little on our Christmas Eve dinner. My siblings sat in the kitchen talking about the Bible and how Christians are supposed to be, and in the living room Mom said something about "Do you know what Cin forgot to say in her prayer/blessing/dinnerthing?" I was joking, and I said "Merry Christmas?"and Mom looked at me and said "Not Christmas. It's Christ's Birthday. See, this is why I'm thinking of getting rid of all the presents and stuff and getting back to doing Christ's work." .....and I just sat there, because I didn't want to be the one that ruined Christmas with drama. Mom knows I am athiest/agnostic/whatever the hell others would call me. She has said something to the effect of "I'm scared for your soul because I know you're going to hell" to me before, and we don't discuss it much beyond that, because all we can do is agree to disagree. If I'm wrong and Christians are right, I don't want to be the reason Momma's soul is condemned, but I refuse to believe in their silly and outdated notions. Especially not Paul's (the disciple that was the most devoted).

So when Mimi went off on me like she has some right to, I got angrier than I needed to, but I still don't think I said anything wrong. For her to laugh at my opinion really annoyed me. And to have to listen to my sister tell me that I can't tell people stuff like that or I won't get Mimi REALLY annoyed me. What does being religious say about someone's character??? The Holy Crusades were just sanctioned killers going off and killing anyone that dared to have a different opinion! Some Muslim interpretations say that other religious orders are to be killed immediately or they will lose their access to 'heaven'. The Jews believe that their messiah hasn't come yet, but I don't think they'll ever find someone to believe in. The Hindu's believe anyone born outside their sects is automatically below them and doomed or being punished for previous offenses and treats them accordingly. Is it fair to judge someone without knowing anything about them? I don't think it is, and yet most religions do exactly that. I would rather meet someone and if I'm going to judge them at all, judge it based on their character and their actions, not some religious notions they believe or disbelieve. Live and let live. Jeez.

I don't think the judge should base his decisions on my religion or lack thereof. Let him base it on my character, my job or lack of, my financial situation or distance. There's lots of little things that can weigh against me, but to hold religion against me is worthy of a lawsuit.

Ugh. My face is getting chapped, and I need to put lotion on, but I didn't really bring any besides my work stuff. Un-happy...

But anyway, we drove for 2 and a 1/2 hours and got to Hubby's parent's place. We came in, helped skin carrots for dinner, and opened gifts. :D We got two $25 gift cards to Cheesecake factory as well as a LOT of random chocolates. We also got a card with money, which is always helpful. Then we all took a few things and went across the street to Aunt Mary's house. We had roast beef, carrots, caesar salad, and dinner rolls/bread as well as a baked potato. It was yummy. We got some more money from her, and gave her coasters and doggy treats.

Then we came home and played card games and trouble. His mom had the most victories, and we had cake and ice cream before we took showers and went to bed. Overall it was a nice Christmas and I think we both were very relieved and happy to see our families. We hope yours was as nice as ours was. :) Happy Holidays!