I'm staying in Greenbrier with the Neals for the first half of my winter break, and tomorrow I'm going to stay with my cousin in Jacksonville. Time flies. Pretty soon, the winter break will be over and I'll be moaning about my hectic spring semester. =/
At the start of my winter break, I bought myself a colorful sock monkey and named it Jellybean!
I'm a sucker for colors.
I also did some Christmas shopping at the mall one afternoon with Taylor :) We spent hours in Forever 21, browsing through all the delightful goodies and weaving through the crowd. I wish I could go there again - I only managed to cover half of the store :(
I've recently taken a liking to big, bold earrings.
Two days before Christmas, I followed the Neals to Taylor's grandmother's house in Searcy for a pre-Christmas family gathering. I'm not part of the family, but they made me feel like I was :) They were all so nice! And I got to celebrate Christmas the Southern style for the first time in my life!
Met Taylor's super adorable 2-year-old cousin, Harper, who was really shy at first but warmed up after the present-opening ceremony. She kept pointing at everything and asking, "What's that?" with genuine bright-eyed curiosity.
And I also met Daniel, Taylor's other cousin from Georgia. He's a funny guy. He came over and spent the night at Taylor's and we ended up watching Scary Movie 2 and Jeff Dunham's Christmas Special. Laughed the entire night.
And that's the beautiful Christmas tree at the Neals. They showered me with Christmas presents; more than I imagined I'd receive this Christmas :) The Neals are such loving, remarkable people and I'm just so blessed to be considered a part of their wonderful family. Couldn't ask for a better American family! (They're hilarious too.)
They have 2 sweet dogs, Annie and Gracie. But Gracie's my favorite. Still is. :) Both dogs received Christmas presents from the Neals and their family friends on Christmas day. Haha. I'll post pictures later.
Me and Gracie :)
On Christmas day, Taylor's relatives came over and all of us had a warm Christmas together. I'd baked blueberry cheesetarts the night before the party :) And Taylor baked a Christmas cake.
I met Jayden for the first time, Taylor's 5-year-old cousin.
Jayden was cute. I introduced myself to her and she said the most appropriate thing ever.
Me: Hello, Jayden. I'm Carissa.
Jayden: Hi... I had a hamster and then it died.
I was glad she didn't say her hamster's name was Carissa or something. Because I don't know what triggered her to talk about her dead hamster.
She made me and Taylor play with her all afternoon. She wanted to play board games, so we sat down with her and tried explaining to her how to play, but she refused to listen. Instead, she said, "Listen, guys. Let's just play this my way, okay?"
And Taylor and I exchanged "Whoa, diva alert!" glances but we succumbed to the little girl's "orders" anyway. LOL. And Jayden loves club music. She was browsing through my iPhone for songs and she picked songs by Britney, Rihanna and Pitbull. She also pumped up the volume so that music blasted out of the tiny speakers. And then "Stereo Hearts" came on and she screamed, "I LOVE THIS SONG!"
She's only 5. When I was 5, I listened to "Old McDonald had a farm, ee-ai-ee-ai-ohhh."
Apparently, this was what she told her grandpa: "I have a boyfriend and he thinks I'm hot."
So later, I asked her about this boyfriend of hers.
Me: What's your boyfriend's name?
Jayden: Aidan...
Me: Are you guys still together?
Jayden: No, we broke up. I don't want to talk about this anymore.
I really felt like I was talking to a 15-year-old instead of a 5-year-old. WHY ARE KIDS THESE DAYS SO MATURE?!
Anyway. I had a great time catching up with Taylor, my American sister. She's my sister from another mother.
Love you girl!
I had a beautiful Christmas this year, thanks to the Neals. :) Love them to bits.
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