This Christmas we went to Todai, a resturant at Redmond Town Center, to eat. My mother said things like "It doesn't open until 11:30, what's the big deal?" while we looked at each other and thought in unison, "We're bound to be late". My dad's birthday was on Christmas day and he got the free birthday deal.

To start from the beginning of my Christmas Day. My sister, Adrianna, woke me up at eight thirty or so, shaking me from my strange but interesting dream about being in jail in outer space with a spoiled brat. I was quite groggy and wanted nothing more but to go back to sleep. I was cold, as my covers were falling off, and I was grumpy--I hadn't slept very well.

I didn't want to bother to get dressed, as I assumed I would be going back to sleep, and scurried downstairs (doing our best to make sure the stairs didn't creak, without success) with my sister. I insisted on staying in our classroom under the heater (which was located on the ceiling), warming up my freezing toes, while my sister fetched our presents.

I recieved a Santa hat from my fifteen-year-old cousin, a card and five dollars from Adrianna (I gave her ten), and a shirt, also from Adrianna, which I had worn before anyway. But all the presents were insignificant in the face of the present my mom gave me--a digital camera! With this productive present I was to snap picture after picture and blog about them, every day.

Right now I am in bed under my lumpy, bulky covers at 11:17 p.m. The Winter Solstice (or whatever it's called) is said to be the shortest day of the year, or something, but Christmas Day seems like the shortest day. Sometimes I wish it were like the old days with weeks of festivities. Remember the song "Nine Days of Christmas"? (Maybe it was six days, I forget).