Christmas

Me with Barfy

I had a great Christmas surrounded by my family and friends, and one immensely adorable puppy.  My little sister was asked to dogsit for a family she regularly babysits for while they are on vacation in Mexico, and I have fallen in love with the dog.  He's named Barty, but I call him Barfy because it's cuter and funny.  He's a miniature Schnauzer.  My mom and I have already taught him how to sit and shake hands since he got here just a few days ago.  I'm going to be super sad when his real family comes to take him back!!!

I also have a human friend visiting me.  My friend Sarah who goes to school with me and also plays the horn, is an international student, so I invited her to stay with my family for the holiday.  We've had a great time! We made a silly video on Christmas Day to send to our friends as a holiday greeting:

On Christmas Day itself, we opened stockings as soon as we got up, right at the crack of 10:30.  I received thank you notes, a new mascara, and a pomegranate.  Thanks, Santa!  After a very nice family breakfast of pancakes and waffles, we opened presents as a family.  I gave and received a number of very nice gifts! I gave my little sister a pair of running pants, which she really wanted.  My dad got a nice sweater from LL Bean, and I gave my mom a scarf that I knitted (actually, I still haven't finished it... oops!) and a coupon book for household chores.  I gave Sarah a really cute t-shirt from one of our favorite restaurants back in Connecticut.  I received a new bike helmet, some nice clothes for work, tennis shoes that I need to go pick out in the next couple of days, a gift card to the grocery store (ugh, I feel like such an adult!), a sweater (gotta go exchange it for the correct size), a memory chip for my phone, and some earrings and a pendant.  Emily also gave me a coupon for a sister bonding day.  I have to decide what I want to do on my special day, though!  It's a tough decision...

My parents, Barfy, and me on a very cold Christmas walk in the park

After opening gifts, we worked some on preparing the Christmas dinner, but took a bit of time off to record the video I posted above.  While the turkey was in the oven, we took a walk with Barfy at a nearby park.  It was very cold, but a very nice park.  We walked for about an hour, down to the Potomac River and back.  Barfy was overwhelmed by new smells and was going crazy running everywhere!

When we got back, we helped get everything ready for the delicious dinner.  We had a very traditional dinner, with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, and fruit salad, accompanied by sparkling apple cider (since we are unfortunately an alcohol-free household) and followed up by apple and pecan pies.  Everything was enormously delicious! Thanks, Mom!

In the next few days, I have some fun activities planned, including a lot of sightseeing with Sarah, since she has never visited DC before.  We have a lot of museums and a scavenger hunt on the itinerary! But more about that later.  Meanwhile, enjoy this lovely photo of me wearing plastic aviator goggles in the gift shop of the Air and Space Museum.  Until next time!