growing up

this year, daniel and i are doing our first joint holidays. we are not technically married (common law, yeah. but not "really"), but this will our 4th holiday as a couple. it's about time we join forces, right? what we decided on is thanksgiving at my parents' house and christmas with his family. sounds easy enough, but this is proving to be a bit difficult. neither of us has spent a holiday away from our families. and we both are very close to our families. naturally, we both feel torn. it sorta sucks to have to grow up. it sucks for daniel because holidays are pretty much the only time he gets to spend time with his little brother who goes to university in mississippi. and having to start doing this this year is very hard for me because days after christmas, i'm leaving texas, my home, for 2 years for that dreaded cold place where all i'm going to get to do is study every hour of the day (except, i probably won't study EVERY hour). ugh, having to leave in fifty-something days is really really stressing me out. this is so much to do in so little time. and holidays take up a lot of the rest of my days left in texas. i have to pack, buy presents, see all my friends, see all my family, go to parties, fix everything that broken in my house, try to get rid of all the excess shit i have built up in the crevasses of my house, write up a new lease for our tenants, go to denver for orientation, try to find a place, try to find a roommate (if i end up wanting one. still thinking about that one). it's a lot. and all i want to do is sit on the couch and catch up on all of the ellen episodes i have tivo'd. that takes time. i'm also trying to read the harry potter series (i bought all of them for my sister as her graduation present this year because she wanted to re-read them, but had borrowed books the first time she read them. now that she's halfway through, i want to start reading them. probably not the best time to start reading that). i also ordered books that have been reviewed as good books to read before starting nursing school. once they're in, i probably have to give up harry and read those. then harry can maybe come back in 2012.

there's just so much to do. and it's really sad that i probably will only get to see my parents like, twice in all of that craziness before i leave. i feel so bad about not spending christmas with them. when i told my mom, i think she was pretty surprised. it was hard. holidays are always sooo much fun because we spend it with lots of other families. i love the business of those days with so many people around. i'm sad i'm going to miss out on that on christmas. but, the good thing is that daniel and i both feel close to each others' family, so at least it's not a total loss. no matter where we are, we'll feel at home.