The Christmas Party Pooped

Oh so sad! So blue! So glum! The Christmas is over.

This year's Christmas was more...eventful than those of year's past. My roommate spent the week on a cruise ship in Mexico with her family. This was excellent as it provided the apartment and me with some quality alone time that had been lack as of late. We desperately needed to get in touch with each other again.

On Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd), Arielle was supposed to spend the night with me for frivolity and fun and cable tv. That morning on my way to work (driving through the Treasure Valley's version of treacherous snow), I started to slide. Being the girl that I am (the kind of girl who listens to her father's advice), I steered towards the side of the road where there was still a bit of snow that no one had driven in. The sidewalk was right there, but it is quite a short sidewalk so I figured I'd just ride up. I seemed to have mistaken the shortness of my car. I hit it with a nice bang and a jar and then headed onto work. After work, I went home for about an hour, sat my friend's cat for about an hour, filled up on gas...and when I finally parked my car (at least 12 hours since the initial slide) I heard a nice "sssssssssss". Oh dear.

Right before my very eyes, the front passenger tire gave up. I called Dad, who told me to call my Home Teacher and call him back. I called HT Trevor, who was out Christmas shopping and said he'd be by soon. I called both the tire places that are only minutes away from me and they said that since it was 5:30 they had stopped taking requests, but since it was just a flat if I could get it in by 6, they'd take care of me. I did fail to mention to them that last time someone looked at my tires they said they'd have to go soon. So I knew they'd want to completely change 'em out. I managed to get my spare out and started changing the tire (ripping my new coat in the process). I got my spare on and just had to tighten the bolts so I called off my Home Teacher. And then, with only a couple minutes to spare before 6...I broke off one of the bolts. This was just about the straw that did me in.

I called the tire places and was told I'd have to wait for tomorrow when they open at 8am. I have to be at work at 6am. I called Dad, who told me to call my team lead, Roxanna. Roxanna's husband answered the phone (very nice man, I've met him before) who said she was taking a nap. I did try very hard not to sound incredibly pitiful and weepy, but a little seeped through because he said that if it was an emergency he could wake her up. "(Sniffle, choke) Oh no, that's fine...nevermind." Dad ended up coming the rescue. He volunteered to drive all the way to Boise at 5 in the morning, take me to work, and then drive all the way home so he could take Mom to work as well. My fun night with Arielle was ruined. My Christmas was ruined. My car was ruined.

I drove the car over to the tire shop, and walked my most pitisome and tear-stained self home. Then Roxanna called me back, "Mark told me you called and sounded upset but wouldn't tell him what was wrong." She was duly empathetic.

After being taken to work on Christmas Eve (THANK YOU DAD), I planned a ride home with a friend. During the day, the tire place called and said they'd have to replace my front tires. No surprise there. Then they called a little later to say, "We're all done and you can come pick it up! We close at 1pm today." Here was a problem: I don't get off work till 2pm. We were quite slow at work so I was 99% sure I would get off early, but still there was that 1%. With gracious help from Roxanna, my temp agency representative, and my supervisor...it all got figured out and I was off with a friend by 11am driving to get my car. I immediately headed to Nampa for Christmas Eve (Making sure to bring my work clothes since I had to be back at 6am).

Christmas Eve was a blast. Grandma Ison and Aunt Lora Dawn joined us (along with Arielle's friend Amanda). We had our traditional Christmas Eve Pizza (but left none for Santa this year), acted out the Christmas Story with the cloth/bean nativity said made by Mom & Dad when they were newlyweds, read about the Ingalls Christmas in "Little House On the Prairie", and prepared for games. By this time, the snow that had been promised to us all day was getting quite boisterous and proud of itself. Grandma and Lora Dawn left around 9pm and at 10pm Dad decided to call it quits. The snow had just been getting more and more unruly and instead of spending the night, it was decided that I would head back home to Boise. Oh weep, oh gnash. Oh ruinous night. Once again, Dad came to the rescue and and this time let me follow him all the way to Boise and then drove back to Nampa, getting home by midnight.

Realization: Within the 200+ movies my roommate and I own, none are Christmas movies.