"If I scream like Steph, there's something wrong... lock me up!"

Today was definitely a good day for seeing people back for Christmas break: my brother Jon, Fidela (who's going on an epic vacation soon), Elaine (who says we have to hang out since she got me something from Hawaii), Megan, Wayland (St. Louis isn't that bad), Belinda, Dave (we hugged hello), and others. I brought up the idea of another SLB night with Eunice (since Jon's back in town), and she agreed... but only if we did it without Eddie! (we don't want a repeat of all his blasphemy last time!) Jon brought up going to Dragon Ball at least a few times, and Jen suggested getting some beer at a local watering hole before she leaves for Toronto on Thursday: alkies, indeed! ;)

I heard that my dad's mom died last Monday (I also heard that Katherine's husband died), and Jon filled me in: apparently, Dad's going to Hong Kong for a week on Tuesday. It'll probably be strange without him here for Christmas, heh. No condolence comments: it's all right for the two of us since we never really met her. Oh, and I don't know how he's taking it since he's kinda private with his feelings. A bunch of us were wondering where Steph was, and then we heard her screaming hello to Fidela: Nathan attempted something similar when Jon greeted him and Tracy by screaming in their ears and being a typical guy. Christon said that if he screamed like that, we'd know there'd be something wrong, so we could just go ahead and lock him up. Then we wondered where Danielle was: she had a flight home to catch, heh.

I talked to Clement, Denise, Andrea, and Dylan for a bit afterwards: Dylan's so busy with Winter Conference planning meetings! We figured that one way to minimize stress was NOT to be around parents who were packing for trips / going to the airport, because they'll yell and take it out on you. (and then you can't take it back out on them in turn.. ugh!) Then I waited fruitlessly for my brother, who decided to go somewhere for lunch on his own: he can't drive yet since he has to renew his license tomorrow, but he has my sister's bus pass. Aiya. We had Pho again, for the fourth week in a row. :P

The kids still thought my Santa hat was cute, and little Rosanna kept calling me Santa Claus. Her birthday is next week (a Christmas baby!), but she gave a good Sunday School answer when asked about it: "I'll celebrate next week because it's Jesus' birthday first, and mine second!" Hopefully, she'll learn to be a bit selfish about it in future. (heh) Steph mentioned that she'd call Melissa tonight about next week: she got me, Jon, Melissa, and someone else four tickets to the USA-Switzerland junior hockey game on Dec. 30 at 4. (she'll be back from SunPeaks that evening) Maybe Jon will pick Melissa up at the airport since Mom can't handle a lot of stress... all I know is that Vivian S. gets back tomorrow, and Steph will definitely spend time with her! (and she wants ME to spend time with Mom when she won't do it herself... I don't THINK so!)