Grasping for Reality: Year of teh Suck

Dear God, will this year never end? I think I can say without using too much hyperbole that this has been a crappy year all around. Mom's heart attack, Mom's abdominal cyst, my Aunt's thyroid cancer, my Grandmother not feeling well as a remnant of last winter's colon cancer, the looming possibility of my brother becoming unemployed (he works for GM, natch), and the various things that have decided to break in my condo this year have all combined to render this a sucky year overall.

And while everyone has pretty much recovered from their various health crises, and with the auto bailout deal it appears my brother will not become unemployed, and all appliances that broke have been replaced, let me just say that I will not be sorry to see this year end.

In fact, for the first time ever, I have decided to celebrate the new year by doing nothing at all. It's not a secret that I hate the holiday New Years, but usually I suck it up and go out and have some fun. But this year, I intend to have a quiet night. Dinner with my Dad and Grandmother and then coming home and going to bed. The plan is to wake up to 2009 feeling refreshed and hangover-free.

Not to say that this year did not have it's bright spots. My vacation/cruise was definitely the highlight, and the usual fun with friends and family was had, but honestly, this year needs to end. I don't know what it is about a simple flipping over of the calendar page, but it really does seem to make a difference with our mental well-being.

Oh, but before I get to the real point of this post (posting some of my holiday pictures), I thought I would share one anecdote. As I neared the end of the year, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but leave it to 2008 to find one last way to screw me over. As you might remember, this year began with a knock on my front door at 2 in the morning on New Year's Day. My downstairs neighbor had come to inform me that water was leaking from his ceiling in the bathroom. This was because the wax seal on my toilet had broken. I got it repaired and paid for the replastering of his ceiling and all seemed well.

Until Saturday morning when I woke to discover water pooled on my bathroom floor from the ginormous crack in the base of my toilet (to which my mother of course commented, "you must sit on it too hard." Like, WTF, Mom?) So almost a year to the date when it had previously broken, the toilet and 2008 decided to have one last laugh. I scurried off to Home Depot to purchase a new toilet, conned a friend to help me carry me up to my apartment, and had a plumber come out to install it. $400 later, I have a bold-looking (it's Kohler!) new toilet. Swell.

Ok, enough negative stuff! Let's get to the good stuff. Fun holiday happenings!

My Dad's dog, Lumpy, decided it would be a good idea to sit on a big stack of presents. Bonus dog hair with your gift!

Dad's telling Bill on the phone how much he enjoys his gift: a new gun. *sigh*

My Grandmother is not one for big shows of emotion. So trust me when I tell you that this half-smile when she unwrapped her lighthouse magnet was pretty effusive.

Here's me with a big bow on my head. So just your typical Thursday night then.

Mom seems really happy to get that new knife. What is it with my family and gifting weapons? In a side note, I just want to assure everyone that while I was pretty depressed that my brother would not be home for Christmas this year (for the first time ever...he had to go see the in-laws), my Mom and I ended up having a great day. And while we missed Bill, we made our own fun! Such as going out to dinner at the Chart House; I was so not going to cook.

Mom was really surprised by the Spode Christmas ornament I gave her. Either that or she is very perplexed.

My big gift from Mom was a gold pineapple (the Virginia symbol for hospitality) pendant. You can kind of see it here.

Here's Mom showing off her new scarf (from Bill and Amanda), and her new pants (from me). What a fashion plate!

Here's me at the little Christmas tree at the Old Town waterfront (by the Chart House).

And here's Mom with the tree wearing her Russian hat. Well, that's what I like to call it, since it's fur and all.

The day after Christmas, my old roommate Jennifer and her husband Mike drove up for some Friday night karaoke. Since they have a one year old, they needed some adult fun time! Which of course means booze, dancing, and drunk singing. Woot!