Love Actually

“It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion… Love Actually is all around.”

Christmas Tradition

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are always spent at my grandparents' house. On Christmas Eve we usually go up around 1pm so that we can go to an early church service. Once the Arbuckle, Murdock and Rooney clan all arrive, we are then allowed to eat the wonderful spread made by Nanny which consists of plenty of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. Once our tummy's are filled we usually play a game of catch up and ask how finals went for everyone, and what we have to look forward to in the new year. Sometimes the grandkids play Disney SceneIt (if I remember to bring it) or watch a movie. Then it's presents time. Everyone use to go to my grandparents on Christmas Day as well so we would just open one present on Christmas Eve and the rest the following day. Now that everyone is older, the Arbuckle's and Murdock's stay at home on Christmas Day so we just open all of the presents when we are all together. Nanny and Poppy always give the same gift to everyone. One year it was puffy vests in our favorite color, then it was sweatshirts with our sorority/fraternity letters or the school of our dreams (for those still in middle and high school). This year it was the year of the umbrella and poncho. Because we usually go to a USC football game around this time of the year and it always seems to rain so now we will be prepared. After Nanny and Poppy's we go to an early service at King's Harbor Church and then come home to watch a holiday movie, curled up on the coach with tea or hot cocoa. This year's movie was Love Actually, my personal favorite.

Christmas morning is spent at our house. We open presents and wait for Nanny and Poppy to come over so we can show them what we got. After my sister, brother and I share all of our goodies, then my mom serves breakfast- bagels with or without lox and Bloody Mary's or plain V8 juice. The rest of the morning and afternoon is filled with more Christmas movies, music, getting ready for dinner, and....laundry? Well that was the case for this Christmas. My friend Eric wasn't able to go home for Christmas so I invited him to ours. He brought with him a couple of loads of laundry to do since at his apartment he has to pay the washer and dryer machine with quarters. Once laundry was folded and put away, we made our way up to Nanny and Poppy's for dinner. The dinner menu consists of pear and gorgonzola salad, prime rib, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas, corn souffle, Yorkshire pudding and for dessert we had trifle. Nanny only makes it twice a year, on Christmas and on February 5th (mine and my dad's birthday, it's our favorite). After dinner we sit by the fire before heading home.

Winter Festivities

My winter break started with a trip to Disneyland. Kelsey (Sarah's little in her sorority) works for ABC casting and therefore gets free tickets to Disneyland. She had never been before because she is from Kentucky and I had never been at Christmas time so we both cleared our schedule and went on a Sunday. Both of us agreed before that we didn't want to be there all day, but I wanted to make sure we were there for the fireworks. So we went a little bit later in the afternoon (2 pm) and met princesses, went on rides, and watched the fireworks show.

A few days later my mom, my brother and his girlfriend, my cousins Cody and Kylee, and I went to the USC vs. Georgia men's basketball game. My cousin Kylee just finished her first semester at Georgia and with me being a new Trojan, my mom thought it would be fun to go to the game. It was except, USC lost in the final few seconds. Bummer for me, but a "Yay!" for Kylee.

a lesson in kindness

A lesson in kindness. living somewhere as stimulating as New York City can admittedly cause desensitization. You begin to see people as objects you pass on your commute - the humanness begins to fade away. The other night after work, I was riding the R train. As I squeezed into the subway car I saw the only vacant seat was beside a young woman. She appeared to be homeless and was ‘bobbing’ her head to nonexistent music. I opted to stand in the aisle to avoid sitting beside her. Why? …When did I start to see people like this young woman as a threat, instead of seeing her as a sister? At the next stop, a middle-aged, kind-faced man joined our car. He had a string instrument case strapped across his shoulders. He squeezed in the aisle beside me and stood in front of the young woman. She smiled at him, “Do you play music?” He smiled back, “Yes, I just finished a performance. Do you like music?” “Oh, very much!” …. She began bobbing her head and he smiled down at her… not in an odd or threatening way, but in a loving somewhat paternalistic manner. He held out a coffee cup to her, “Do you want this? It’s a cappuccino. I haven’t even had a sip, and you might not even like it, but you’re welcome to have it.” She looked at the cup, and at the man. “What is it?” He smiled again, “It’s like a coffee, but they place a large dollop of foam on the top. Like I said, you might hate it, but it’s warm.” She took the cup from the man and popped off the lid. She dipped her finger in the foam, sniffed it curiously, and placed a bit on her tongue. She smiled in approval and began to drink the cappuccino. He smiled kindly back, and asked, “What do you want to do someday?” She looked down at her feet, embarassed, “I don’t know, sir. I’m not good at much.” He shook his head, “Not a chance. You and that big smile of your’s are way too bright. You’re going to do big, great things.” She sipped the final bits of her cappuccino and then with a large grin exclaimed “I just hope one day I can buy some fancy coffee like this!” He smiled once again before exiting the car , “You will! Good night, miss.” Throughout the entire dialogue, I found myself shamelessly staring and smiling. My eyes welled up when the man left and the young woman stared at her empty coffee, glowing, because another person had talked to her. Had treated her like a friend. Like a human being.

December 1st

December 1st means it is time to get into the holiday spirit. I will be doing that by listening to this song on REPEAT and watching Love Actually of course.