Day #7428 - Silent Night

I literally haven't left my house today. Down at school this past week during finals, me and my roommates would make sure we at least went outside once a day. The closest I got today was answering the door for the mail lady because someone had to sign for a package. That doesn't mean I haven't been in total awe of it's beauty. It's been snowing pretty consistently all day. Like I said the other day, though, I know it can be dangerous and I know that so many people find it annoying and a pain to deal with. Pardon me if I start to sound like Charlie Brown, but this season is supposed to be all about Love and family and hope, with peace on earth and goodwill toward all men. However, all of that, no matter how hard we may try, becomes secondary to the commercialism that consumes us. People genuinely don't believe me when I say I don't care so much about Christmas presents. Sure I want things, but I'd rather have a few days with my family and friends with no drama or fighting than any material things. So even though scraping the ice off the windshield of your car in the sub-zero windchill is never fun, take a moment to just appreciate what we do have. And come on, it's hard to deny that the power of weather is pretty awesome. All of this snow fell from the sky. It was just evaporated water, turned into a cloud, and now our landscape has been completely transformed. Come on, it's a little bit cool =)

Another thing I just want to take the time to comment on is surprises. I love it when things in this world can surprise me. People, places, things. For example, I'm not sure if I can remember the last time a movie made me cry. It rarely happens and I think the first time it did was when I first saw Finding Neverland. Tonight I watched Dan in Real Life with my brother and dad. Now for most of the movie, I just felt awkward and uncomfortable (probably because I could identify with the protagonist more than I wanted to). However at the end when Dan was talking to his daughters, I felt a tear on my face. I never watched this movie before because I thought it looked awful, and I ended up really enjoying it.

And I love it when books can surprise me. I'm currently re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time in a few years and wow, I forgot so much of the story. Usually I'll just pop in the dvd if I want a bit of Lizzy and Mr. Darcy, but the book, wow. Austen really knew how to tell a story. I never really appreciated Mr. Darcy's side of the story before - the movie just makes him seem like a jerk because you're only seeing her side of the story. In the book, you really get to see how tormented he is and we can all relate to the idea of falling for someone that our friends don't approve of. I never fully saw that Darcy starts falling in love with her the night they meet. It's like I'm reading a whole new book - what a great surprise.

And with this night being the eve of Christmas Eve, I now close this post while wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday. Travel safely and just try to remember the real reason for the season =)

Day #7426 - Yarn and Yultide

Well final exams are finally over for everyone, so I'm back in Schaumburg for a month of rest and hopefully letting my brain recover from the massive assault it's been subject to for the past semester. I already went to Michael's today and got started on a new sweater that I hope to finish knitting by the time we head back to school.

The neighborhood is beautiful right now. I know that snow can be really unsafe to drive in and completely annoying when it comes to shoveling, but especially at night, it just makes everything look so at peace. Not going to lie, one of my main motivations for blogging tonight was going to be so I could rant about the fact that I've only been home a day and already, some people who I have always considered good friends are already not returning my calls and ignoring my texts and how much it sucks when I try to take an initiative like people are always telling me to do, but at the end of the day I'm still alone. It's a horrible feeling. But when I look out at the streetlights and snow covering my currently quiet street, it's just nice. Sure it'd be nice to have anyone to share these kinds of moments with, but it's so pretty that I don't mind. Patience is a virtue that I have always struggled with, and I also just try to remember that those kinds of things just might not be in the cards for me. So yeah. Sometimes, life is just a pain. Sometimes the people you need to listen, won't. But then other times, it'll snow in the days before Christmas and put a blanket over the world in a way that makes you wish that things like magic and Santa Claus were real to you all over again.