Merry Early Christmas to Me!

{{This was just too funny not to post.  But we all know one cat is one cat too many. }}

I kind of have some big news for y’all.

Like, really big.

Like, once I called my parents to tell them I started bawling.

No, I am not pregnant.  Get your mind outta that gutter!

These are happy tears.

I missed a call last night from and unknown number {I don’t usually answer unknown numbers anyway} but it turned out to be somebody I really wanted to talk to.  I called him back, didn’t catch him, he called me back and I missed it again.  I was guarding at the Y, and well shut that pool DOWN once I realized I needed to talk to this person. 

Once I got a hold of him…

I got offered a position with the Washington Scholars program!  Holy mother of sweet  baby Jesus I stopped breathing.  But really.  That isn’t a joke.  I almost fell over, and then I started crying.  If anybody had drowned last night I would have forgotten how to do CPR. I was so frazzled.  

This program helps you find an internship up in the DC area for an organization that fits your political and personal demographic.  Essentially with the Scholars program and the internship it is like two internships in one.  From 9-5 I will be an intern for organization I get the 40 hour work week internship with and then from 5-9 I will be a Washington Scholar.  That is about all the information I know I right now, but I will definitly keep you updated as the process progresses!

Holy moley, me oh, my.  I am hopefully moving to DC by mid-January!  Life is finally happening!  I can’t hardly stand it.  I would move to DC right this very second if I could, but I have to wait.  It is only a month, and Christmas will help the time go by faster.  I am just so excited I can barely stand, breathe, focus, speak … you name it, I can’t do it. 

So now that is out of the way, I found this sweet Holiday Questionaire from Peanut Butter Fingers.  Since I haven’t posted one festive thing on this blog all Holiday season (besides Frankin Cat up there) I figured in my happy state of mind I would share my Holiday thoughts with you!

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate.  No contest.  Unless the eggnog has rum in it… just saying.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?  Santa does not wrap our presents.  Each kid has a pile and our stocking clarifies who’s pile is who’s.  Though… it is pretty easy to pick out my pile, being the only girl and all.  Then all the presents from the parents are wrapped, and we go in order of who found the pickle, then order of age from the pickle finder.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights on the house.  Colored lights everywhere else.  I am not a fan of colored lights on the outside of houses unless you do it perfectly.  I am not a fan of those “net” lights in either color or white.  You know the ones that get thrown on bushes, and just look terrible? Yeah, those.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Yes, we hang mistle toe.  Not like I have anybody to kiss under it… but it’s there.  Heck, I don’t need man I have a baller internship.

5. When do you hang your decorations up? You mean when does my mom, Santa’s mistress, put the decorations up?  She starts right after Thanksgiving, and for about a week it looks like the North Pole literally vomed in our hallway, and then the house is all pretty!  I am responsible for hanging the stockings and decorating the downstairs tree, though I haven’t done any of that yet this year… gotta get on top of that.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Every holiday dish is dessert.  What are these people thinking?  I would say the honey baked ham we get for Christmas.  I love me some pig. oink. oink.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? The Christmas’ we used to spend at our grandparents house.  I remember one year in Charleston, WV with my dad’s side of the family and then a few years up in Asheville, NC with my mom’s side.  I always thought it was so much more magical to have Christmas at somebody else’s house, because it proved that Santa always knew where you were.  Sleeping under the Christmas tree, and the two white Christmas’ I have had (ages 4 and 21) are also top contenders.   

8. What is on your Christmas wish list? A sewing machine, gray uggs (short. I don’t like tall uggs), fun nail polish, black Toms and a Harry Potter calendar.

9. Do you open a gifts on Christmas Eve? We started opening gifts on Christmas Eve about 5 years ago.  They are always pajamas.  Once my littelest brother got gloves… he cried.  “Santa doesn’t give boys gloves.“

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Santa’s Mistress My mom, has well … 5 trees in our house.  The “big” tree that has all of our family ornaments on it.  (each kid gets an ornament every year).  A sea (like the ocean) tree, a Kitchen tree, a tree with ornaments holding the pictures of each child every Christmas since birth, and the downstairs tree (the “ugly” tree) that has all the handmade ornaments from the 4 children when we were little.  I told you, the North Pole voms on our house.

11. Snow? Love it or dread it? Love it.

12. Real tree or fake tree? Fake. I am allergic to those real trees. Migraines are no fun during the most merry season of all. Fact.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? The gift that will always stick out in my mind on Christmas is the lifesized WEDDING Barbie I recieved during one of the Christmas’ spent in Asheville.  Me and lifesized Barbie… we were BFF.

14. What is the most important thing about Christmas for you?  Getting to spend time with the people you care about.  The season I worked in retail I was home for Christmas only for Christmas Eve, day and had to leave the day after.  It was horrible.  Retail… never again.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? We don’t really make specific holiday desserts.  My family and I are fatties year round. Fact. But I really do like those cookies with the hershey’s kiss on top!

16. What is your favorite tradition? Our Christmas Eve tradition hands down.  We go and eat Chinese food at a Chinese buffet (so American) and then go to the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood Park.  Like, we eat Chinese food on Christmas Eve… who does that?  I also make Reindeer food… at the age of 22. I still believe in Santa.  Go ahead judge me, you will receive coal in your stocking.

17. What tops your tree? A moravian star.

18. Do you prefer giving or receiving? I think each are equally as awesome.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Silent Night and Glee’s version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (ringtone).

20. CAndy canes, yuck or yum? A necessity.

21. Favorite Christmas movie? The Polar Express

22. What do you leave for Santa? Oreos and milk, unless I eat them first. I have addiction issues when it comes to Oreos.

23. Do you have a Christmas morning tradition? Us four kids search for the pickle to decide the present opening order, we take a step picture, and then we beat each other to see who gets in the playroom first.  We always open our stockings first too.  My favorite part of Christmas is opening my stocking.  I just think it is so special.

24. Do you prefer to shop on-line or at the mall? The mall.

25. Christmas letter or Christmas card? Santa’s Mistress writes a Christmas novel on our family every year, and we send a formal Christmas picture card, and then an entire page of the Garlow Chronicle is dedicated to more pictures.  My mom is the mistress.  This is not a joke.  Like Christmas glitter runs in her veins.  There are issues at hand.

Well that is all!  I am going to go and try to figure out how to calm down from my excitement!  Actually, I am going to let this last as long as possible.  This is friggin huge.

Katelyn