For X-Mas we (Sha, Lynda, Mom, Dad, Werner, Jan, and myself) spent the day at my moms as has been the custom for years and years. I had an idea of what I wanted to wear I just had to find a good match. I went for a pretty black shirt with an open white top with collar on top of it along with my mid-sized black skirt and black open toed high heels. I had never worn my skirt outside of the house yet so it was a new experience for the family, but honestly, I think I looked good. :P I was dressed for the occasion anyway. :)

As is tradition for us with X-Mas, we went ‘gourmetting’ (hot steel plate grill type thing). Meaning lots and lots of meat to eat. It’s always a lot of fun and tasty too. :d We had steak, burgers, chicken fillet, pork for the pork eaters and many other foods I can’t completely remember right now. :) It took us many hours to finish it all.

Afterward, once the cleaning was done, we played a game of Trivial Pursuit. One of my favorite party games by far. We decided to play in teams; Mom with Jan, Dad with Lynda, and me with Sha. Werner was acting as judge if it came to dubious answers.

Dad’s too smart and it didn’t take long before he and Lynda won their first wedge. Question after question was answered correctly and though Sha and I were slowly gaining on them they eventually won the game.

The 31st of December rolled by, which also happens to be Lynda’s birthday. She turned 15 that day, growing up so fast. Unfortunately, being on a big holiday means it’s hard to get friends over to come to your party. Even the buses stop going after a while.

The sad part though, was that the two friends she was counting on to be there, couldn’t make it. One unexpectedly had his father drop in so they all naturally decided to spend time together as a family. The other one though we’re not so sure about what happened there. Lynda’s kinda mad at her right now, and I can’t blame her really. At least some of the family came over and she got lots of presents too. :)

Every year on this day one of my cousins does this open house thing where all of the family and relatives can just walk in. There’s food, soup, drinks for everyone. I was on the fence for a while about going though I really wanted to. I just get nervous sometimes about big social events with lots of people. Even though I had to persuade Sha and promise her it’d only be for “10 minutes” or so I knew that was unlikely to happen when ti comes to my family.

In the end we stayed for a few hours and we all had a good time. Sha was having fun meeting more family members she had never, or rarely, seen before. Still trying to match names with faces. :) My eldest uncle was there too and it was nice to see him. Fate has not been kind to him with more hospital trips than he’d care to count and a few weeks ago it wasn’t sure whether or not he was even going to be here for the holidays. Luckily he was dismissed from the hospital early.

We left early enough to watch some TV and get ready for fireworks. We had a small box of fountains ‘n stuff. It was neat. :) We watched various live concerts after the fireworks. We watched Céline Dion, Gerard Joling’s “Stout & Nieuw”, The Beyoncé Experience, which I totally need to get on DVD. It was awesome! She even did a few things from her Destiny’s Child days. It definitely was an experience.

Few days later mom called me. Apparently there was some confusion about me showing up at my cousin’s place. There were a bunch of people that after we left asked who that girl was and if she was family. :D That’s pretty awesome to hear. It means I’m doing things right. :)

:makes victory sign:

On that same topic, my mom is using my new name more and more. Not all the time yet, but at least she’s trying and I truly appreciate that. I think she is coming to terms to the fact that despite the changes I am still her child. No matter the gender. :)

Anyhoo, I will try and make some new pictures for you all soon. I got some new shoes and clothes ‘n stuff I wanna show off too. :)