Anything but a white Christmas

Merry Christmas again. So I'm in my dorm, not too long ago I left my Mom and siblings at the hotel. It was funny, when we left Little Italy, my Mom wanted to walk me back to the Bridge House, and I just laughed. The Bridge House is not very far from the hotel, and I told her that I walk alone all the time, I mean I don't have a babysitter. She let me go unwillingly I think. Anyway, so let's go back to the weekend...

Saturday I went to Ely for the weekend to stay with Arthur and Jenn. I went to Waitrose first to pick up a gift for them, just some chocolate and wine. As I was paying for it, I got carded, so no big deal, I gave them my ID but they didn't know what to do with it. They looked at it, looked at me, back at the card, and then asked for my Drivers License. I said that's it, and that I'm from the States. They looked at it again, back at me, back at the card, and then gave in and said you can be over 21. Wow, it was amazing.

So then I made my way to Kings Cross (I did not go to Platform 9 3/4), waited about an hour and go on the train. I fell asleep almost at once, but woke up around Cambridge. What I saw of Cambridge, well I like Oxford better. I only saw it from the train, but it didn't look as nice as Oxford, but I'm not sure I saw the colleges of Cambridge. Anyway, so I'm sitting there, and all a sudden I hear that anyone going further than Cambridge had to be in the first four coaches. I was in the back. So I packed up, moved my heavy bag and went to the front. It was a pain in the butt. Anyway, so not very long after leaving Cambridge, maybe a half an hour, little bit more we get to Ely. I was not expecting to be there so soon, and I got off the train and saw country. Um. I called Jenn and was like, "I'm in the middle of nowhere." She asked where I was, and I just said, "The train station." She just laughed.

So they came and picked me up, and we went back to their house. It was really nice, the neighborhood was very Harry Potterish. All the houses were the same, British style so small with little driveways, and all the houses were the same color. I like their house a lot, and of course love the bed. It was very comfortable, and I knew it as soon as I sat down on the end of it. So we got there, and not long after being there we went down to Ely and got dinner.

Ely is a small town, it has the same stores as Kingston just a small amount of people, and not as many stores. It was so nice, that is a small little English town. Not like Kingston which is a big shopping centre. After dinner we went to base and went to the grocery store. OMG! It's an American grocery store, and I got donuts, Mac n Cheese, chips, cereal, JIF, popcorn, and Chicken Doodle Soup. I'm soooo excited. After that, we went to the base's version of Walmart, and yeah they bought a TV. A plasma, it's SWEET! So we drove around and picked it up, and of course it wouldn't fit in the trunk, so it was put next to me. I'm helping to put it in from my seat and directing it's movements, "Keep it coming... keep it coming... oh that's the door. Yep I'm up against the door." Hahaha. I thought for a moment I would be riding in the trunk, and the TV would get the back seat. But we both fit (barely), and so we went back to the house. The TV is nice, and if it wasn't so nice, I would have minded a little bit being squished, but no, it's cool. We actually didn't think that the TV would fit in the entertainment system, but it proved us wrong. Good times.

Sunday and Christmas Day was our big movie marathon. I didn't leave the house at all on Sunday. I helped Jenn cook pumpkin cookies and dinner. I did the stirring. It was sweet. But then we just watched movies. A Christmas Story (like 3 times), Elf, RV, Gladiator, A Christmas Carol with Disney characters, 8 Below (SO SAD!), and I'm sure a few more movies but I forget. It was nice. We played Monopoly too, and I warned them that I've lost like twice in my lifetime, and I've been playing for a good number of years, but they still wanted to play. It was Monopoly that got hit with inflation... for example the $500 bills with $5 million. I of course bought everything in sight, and then got really low on money so I landed on what should have been Boardwalk, mortgaged a lot to buy it, and then slowly started to lose. Hahah. If I had landed on one of their properties that had a hotel I would have been out. Jenn owned the poorer side of the board, and I landed on what should have been Baltic, and that nearly did me in. But I owned the Green and Orange, got the Yellow, and then I landed on Free Parking that had like $20 million in it. Jackpot! I bought hotels for my properties and never looked back. Arthur landed on one of my yellows, and lost. I tried to warn them.

So Christmas morning was fun, I slept in and around 10:30am I got up. I loved the bed.. it was so comfortable! Anyway, for presents I got some clothes, Pirates 2, a DVD set about Match Game, Hogans Heroes 4 (actually a Christmas present to myself), a Lost calendar, chocolate, some things from Bath and Body, and the Little Mermaid. Dad thought I needed it, which of course I do. Love that movie. It was a nice and quiet. A little weird since this is my first Christmas away from home, but Jenn and Arthur made it cool. I wasn't alone or anything for it, so it was cool. We continued watching movies after presents, this was when we watched Gladiator. I was looking at Jenn's computer when he turned it on, and I heard the music and said, "Love Gladiator." Arthur was a little confused that I knew what movie it was just by the music, but of course I listen to Gladiator before I play hockey, and I idolize Maximus. So during Gladiator, I got an idea for my paper, and during the movie I was writing it. Sweet! Hopefully it's good, I'll look at it when I get back from my trip.

Christmas dinner was spent at their friends who are also American. They have a cute little puppy who loved my hand, wrist and sweater. He was so adorable though, and of course dogs can tell a dog lover a mile away so I spent a lot of time petting him. They also have a 5 year old who's name is escaping me at this moment, but she was cute, and we got along great. She was a little bossy... must be a first born thing. Dinner was great though, ham with sweet potatoes, stuffing, bread, some corn dish... yummy. I ate a lot, and then of course the pumpkin cookies for dessert were good. During dinner I couldn't help but think how weird it was not to be at Nashua, sitting at the long table, and having to do drinks. I think MJ had to do them this year, but maybe I'll ask who took my job that I cannot wait to get rid of. After dinner the 5 year old kidnapped me, and we played in her room for like 4-5 hours. We played on a little hand held game she had. She showed me her Polly Pockets, which are no longer pocket size so not as cool as when I had them. We talked about Disney for a while, she's a big fan, and then we built a 'robot'. Yeah it was a little weird. We made Christmas cards for everyone, and Valentine Day cards. She wanted to give them all out, but I convinced her not to, and save the Valentine Day ones. She agreed. It was fun. When we went downstairs, CSI Season 5 finale was on, so I sat down and the puppy jumped onto my lap, so I sat and watched one of my favorite shows. It was great. The adults (hahah feel old) were amazed that I stayed up in her room for so long, but I did have a good time.

So that was my Christmas. I so missed the family, and everyone at Nashua, especially this year since Auntie Helen came to NH, but oh well. What can you do? I did talk to them Christmas Eve, and my grandmother. It was a different Christmas, and I enjoyed it, but of course the fun was just about to begin. The American invasion was about to occur, and that could only mean fun times.