All smiles

I think this is the fourth year in a row that I’ve blogged on Christmas day. It would have been six, but in 2007, I went overseas to visit family and didn’t have internet access for most of the time there, so I wasn’t able to write a post wishing anyone a good Christmas. My WordPress posts only go as far back as 2009, though. ;)

As usual, I stayed at home. It was quite the tradition to go to a family friend’s house and join in celebrations, but everyone has been rather busy for the past couple of years so no one has held the annual Christmas parties that were “a thing” back when I was in primary school and early high school. Now that most of the children are older, it becomes more of a social gathering where everyone wants to find out what everyone’s sons and daughters are doing and parents have the opportunity to brag about their youngest child doing accelerated geography. I am that proud of Brandon that I am honoured to be his older sister and I feel like it’s worth mentioning how much of a smart cookie he is.

We were chatting to our neighbours (an elderly couple) earlier this evening and they congratulated us on passing milestones in our education. For me, that would be a Bachelor degree, and Brandon, his junior School Certificate. We got into talking about jobs and what we enjoyed doing or studying or were good at, and since we’re both really good with computers (though different sides of the spectrum, I might add, since Brandon is a video and gaming whiz and I’m a web whiz), they said they should call us when they have a problem with their computer. My mum made a point that my brother is on the computer a lot, but he still does well at school – even better than I did at his age, might I add – and I felt the need to throw in the comment that if he was a snack he’d be a cookie with glasses. :P

My mum really liked her present! I got her a silicone-covered porcelain cup for her coffee and a home journal with tips on how to maintain a lovely home. Unfortunately the cup had a chip in the rim that I didn’t notice, so she wants me to try and get a refund. I don’t have a receipt though – so hopefully I can get it exchanged at least, because she really loves it. She said she was very touched that I got her a gift. As I’ve mentioned in previous Christmas posts, Christmas isn’t much of a thing for our busy family.

I got my dad a huge book of sudoku puzzles. I hope that lasts him the year, haha! My brother was very happy with his $50 credit for arcade games.

I think I’ve spoiled myself enough for Christmas by buying notebooks and things earlier this month, not to mention tickets to shows… so I’m relieved I didn’t get too many gifts. James gave me a lovely bangle and my neighbour gave me a diary. Next week though, my dad is probably going to buy me an LCD monitor for me to use along with my laptop. I have been stuck with a CRT for years, which can damage my laptop if I use it with it. I am hoping to trash my CRT too – the technology is ridiculously old. And I’ll have more space on my desk with a new monitor. /eee

I also wanted to shout out to my awesome friend Dylan – it’s his birthday today. :D ♥️ He’s also able to come with me to the Jebediah concert so I’m so thankful for that. I would have hated to go alone, prepared as I was.

I have added two premade layouts called Rose and Dirt, and that completes the Pastel Collection series of seven. I am working on a new series which should be released by next week. I might release one a day – who knows. Seven are in the series too, and they have varying styles and colours. I hope they become really popular so stay tuned.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas if you do celebrate it, and happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends, and happy holiday season to everyone else. Much love. /love

Comments on this post

That’s a nice cup! Glad your mum liked it hehe.

Lol. Spoiling ourselves for Christmas. I spoiled myself big time this time. Time to go into saving mode! Sorry for the very short, quick comment too. /um

MERRY
WUGGSMAS 8D

If he was a snack he’d be a dong-shaped steak. huhu /sweat

Ho, Dylan eh. Ngeogege I can’t believe he’s 21. /sweatbum

(Y)

Same here sis, I just celebrated the Christmas at home. Ugh, they were busy. Oh well, Merry Christmas to you! ;) And Happy Birthday to Dylan /hehe
Nice layouts too :)

What cute layouts! I can’t wait for the next series!
It is so cute how you are so proud of your brother <3
Christmas is not such a big thing here for my family either to be quite honest.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a huge happy Birthday to your friend Dylan :)

Ah, I hope it isn’t like Bangladesh. That wasn’t very fun – too hot and the men were too creepy. :/ I will have to go to Singapore someday, though. I love warm countries, and I love experiencing different cultures! ^.^ I only did it for four years with a few exams, but it became dull for me, too. The exams seriously ruined it for me, because I started off doing something I loved as a hobby but then it felt like something I was just doing to please other people. >...> I really enjoyed reading your answers!

My comment was getting quite long so I had to cram all of my replies/comments to your answers into the previous paragraph. Anyway, I’m glad you had a great Christmas! Merry Christmas, and happy holidays, Georgie! :D

Merry (belated) Christmas, Georgina :D! I hope you’ll enjoy the holiday nicely (:! It’s fun to have a traditional post :D! I realized that I never blogged on Christmas day :O! It’s always before or after it :P!

I like having a calm Christmas. It’s too much work when you just go around and have a Christmas party because one week later, there will be a New Year’s party. That’s just me :P! I think it’s every parent’s thing (especially Asian parents) to brag about their kids :O! My parents have nothing to brag about my brother.. Sadly. For me, they’re in the hype saying, “I’m doing this, this, that, and everything else”. I’m boring :P!

Congratulations to you and your borhter for getting them awesome degree and certificate! :D!

You’re the sweetest child ever for getting your mom something :D! But it sucks that there was a chip in the rim :(! But still, it’s the thought that counts! Your dad must be a wiz at sudoku! And I’m sure your brother will enjoy the arcade games :P!

Hopefully, you’ll enjoy that LCD monitor :D! I remembered when I got my LCD monitor in my freshmen year :D! It was awesome because I can enjoy myself with this widescreen computer ;P!

I love marching band and all, but I can’t go pro considering how all of the Drump Corps here don’t allow woodwinds to join in. It’s not stress thank god- because I don’t have homework :D!

At least this year, you got a couple of domain credits :)! This is the first year I’ve done NC’s trivia contest. It’s an awesome first try even though I didn’t sleep much the fist few days XD!

Take care (:!

Jeez, did my comment mess up? :/ If so, then this is the comment I was trying to post!

Ah, I hope it isn’t like Bangladesh. That wasn’t very fun – too hot and the men were too creepy. I will have to go to Singapore someday, though. I love warm countries, and I love experiencing different cultures! ^.^ I only did piano for four years with a few exams, but it became dull for me, too. The exams seriously ruined it for me, because I started off doing something I loved as a hobby but then it felt like something I was just doing to please other people.

It’s fine, I’m just happy that you answered them! ^.^ I loved your answers. You’re a princess? Seriously? My family history isn’t anywhere near that interesting…unless you count my great-grandfather having 14 children…but being a princess is definitely cooler. :D I’ve stolen stickers and lollies, too, but unfortunately, I went through a stealing phase when I was 4 and I stole dolls and books from other people. Yeah, I’m not proud of that. I love your answer for the lottery one. :3 Most people would say that they would spend ALL of it on holidays or cars or something, which is not very practical…I’m scared of everything, too, and only a few weeks ago, I told my mum to clean my room with holy water because I thought that it was filled with jinns and demons. xD I can’t stand sushi, unfortunately, even if I do love to experience other cultures. I can’t even eat vegetarian sushi without feeling sick. :/ I lost my faith in God only a couple of months ago, which is quite hard, because the rest of my family are Muslims, and I wouldn’t be able to tell them without being kicked out of the house. :( I really enjoyed reading your answers!

My comment was getting quite long so I had to cram all of my replies/comments to your answers into the previous paragraph. Anyway, I’m glad you had a great Christmas! Merry Christmas, and happy holidays, Georgie! :D

I had a couple of Christmas parties this year but it would be so much more fun if I had more family to spend it with.
I’ve been seeing those cups around. They look so awesome and they seem to be quite a fad these days. I’m going to have to get one some day.
The Dirt premade is my favorite. :)
Merry Christmas!!!
______________
Thanks! I’m glad you liked them.

Fourth year in a row that I’ve blogged on Christmas Day, too! We totally rock.

My grandparents (mom’s parents) used to host Chanukah dinner at their house every year, but not since my grandma died in 2009. Other than that, we’ve never really had any traditions besides the usual gift-giving.

The first time I read this, I thought it said your brother is a “video gaming whiz”, but now I see it says “video and gaming whiz”. What does he do with video, exactly? I know he edits gaming montages for his YouTube channel–is that all? Not to belittle it or anything.

I hope you get that LCD monitor! I’m going shopping for jeans tomorrow because Old Navy is having a really good sale: all jeans $15. I want at least one new pair. I can probably only really afford one pair, actually.

Happy birthday to Dylan. :)

absolutely love the new premades Georgie, you inspire me but I wish I wasnt this lazy hehe. I love the colorsss and I want to learn more of how to make designs like yours. I will def. go through the tuts you have again in the coming days. =D Im glad you had a good time and its nice you blogged today when others are usually busy with family and friends. I didnt do much except spend time with family. None of my friends are doing Xmas parties this year, except ones are kinda far away from me. Im sure they are having a blast. Glad you mommy liked her gift. I miss the times I used to do Xmas gift exchanges with my friends…I guess those days are long gone =/
Hope you have a blast rest of the day. Dont forget the wacky after xmas sales hehehehe I know Im shopping..i really want the Magic Bullet. hehe

I’ve noticed since we’re all older Christmas isn’t a major thing any longer. This year it only seemed like it was because it’s my niece’s first Christmas. We didn’t get many gifts – Liz got a TON of gifts. Today I pretty much slept all day. Ha ha. I thought Christmas day was a good day to catch up on sleep that I missed from going to Pittsburgh – it worked out nicely too. I plan to blog about Christmas tomorrow – started writing a blog about the concert last night and didn’t finish it until tonight.

I always look at those cups, I want one so bad. I love the clear plastic ones, maybe that’s what I’ll spend the last bit of my Christmas money on. :) It’s better than buying clothes I have no place to put.

I’m glad to hear you had a nice Christmas this year too. :)

Same here sis. I spent the Christmas at home as well. But my relatives went here to visit us tho. :)
I hope you had fun tho! :)

GEORGIE!! DROPPING HERE!! hahahaha Lovely post and good to hear that your mom loved your gift! It’s so hard to give gifts in my family so we just usually just treat each other out to lunch .Food is lovely! hahaha! I celebrated Christmas with dad’s and mom’s side as usual. These are fun gatherings as my uncle who is always off to somewhere comes home! :)

It’s cool to have a smart sibling! I’m proud of my brother even if he’s irresponsible most of the time XD Lol!

LOVE THE PREMADE LAYOUTS!

Happy holidays again Georgie! :)

I’m glad you had a lovely Christmas! :)

I’ll do, thanks for your words.

Technology is important, since it gives us the opportunity to talk with friends who do not see very often.

I understand what you mean. The photos we take with our friends, serve as memories for the future.

Thank you Georgie! The bad thing about our relationship is that most of the time is at a distance, since we live 28 kilometers of distance, and we can’t see anything but the weekends or holidays. So I hope all goes well.
I understand what you mean, it was bit awkward when Marcos said he loved me /hehe

Thank you. I hope to do my best. In the world in which we move us, and highly competitive society I think we should be ambitious in terms of studies, and have a good academic formation. Good luck with obtaining the Graduate Diploma in Interactive Multimedia. I’m sure you’ll do fine.

It’s been a tough time without my grandfather, but I keep going, he would not have wanted me to be sad at any time.

In my city there are also lighted windows, but not many. Christmas decorating is done indoors. I’m not very Christmas decoration, only the tree and little else. I hope you had a lovely Christmas :)

I also celebrated Christmas at home with my family. It’s so cute how you are so proud of your brother. I hope you can change the cup you bought to your mother. I hope you get that LCD monitor .

I love your new premade layouts, so lovely ♥

*hugs*

/ehh

Merry cchristtmass :D
i adore your site all your tutorials are absolutely amazingg can u please add more wordpress ones:D

I think Merlin is one of those shows you either absolute love or don’t care for at all. Thought the only reason my roommate watches is because he thinks Author is hot xD. But I love the fantasy genera so it makes sense why I’m addicted.

The cup that you got for you mum is just darling! and I know that your brother is happy with that $50 gaming credit =] Nice to here that you were able to find someone to go to the show with you, and it’s prefect that it fall around his birthday time! You should take pictures when you are there!

The premeds look addable! i love pastel shade–something about them just makes me a happy camper.

Anyways, have a happy rest of your holiday! ♥

and a merry christmas to you too :) you still have a CRT monitor??? my boss has one and he had me do something on his computer once and I was going on and on, “how can you look at this thing all day??? It’s flickering! Don’t you see it flickering???” I don’t know why he doesn’t replace it. There’s no reason not to. Anyway, glad you’ll be able to trash yours :)

Merry Christmas, Georgie! I’m glad that you enjoyed the day and that everyone enjoyed your gifts! To me, watching other people open my gifts is more fun than any other part of Christmas.

Hrm… I might take one of your themes and tweak it into my own sometime. =P

Aww that’s a shame about the cup! I hope you can get a refund on it! Your neighbours sound lovely, and you and your brother should be really proud! The sudoku puzzles sound fun, I might buy myself a book to do in the interval in work!

Love the themes! They’ve all got the great tidy structure that I always lack in themes!

Even though it’s not a big thing for you, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and if you’re on Christmas holidays, enjoy them! Take care xxx

Merry (late) Christmas! Haha. That really is a nice cup! Too bad I don’t drink coffee, I see why your mom loved it! I only received 4 gifts this year which is actually surprise seeing as how I wasn’t expecting to get a thing this year.

Your themes, Georgina, amazing – AH-MAZE-ING! Haha. Dirt has to be my favorite I love the tabs. <3

Sounds like you had a really pleasant Christmas, so I’m glad. At least you didn’t have bad family dramas!

I seriously can’t believe you still use a CRT, I had no idea they were even compatible with modern technology. Seriously, that’s insane.

Hope you have a good New Years!

MERRY LATE CHRISTMAS!

I was thinking of blogging on Christmas day but by the time Christmas reaches here it’s too late to wish anyone. I should maybe get into a habit of blogging on Christmas Eve.

Hmm my family friends are still holding Christmas parties or at least dinners. However because everybody dumped me all alone on Christmas this year I was stuck home. But boy was it awesome to have so much freedom!

LOL A COOKIE WITH GLASSES! HAHAHAHA! Can I ask what accelerated geography is? We don’t have geography class here. So I guess then Brandon is a good example that people who go on computers a lot can still get good grades. Please introduce him to my mom? She still thinks that I go online too much (YOU KIDDING ME?! I HARDLY HAVE INTERNET!) and it affects my life, even if my brother was the same as Brandon when he was in high school.

Oohh that’s terrible the rim is chipped. They usually don’t let you exchange if you don’t have a receipt =( but it’s not the end of the world. If she loves it, it’s still great! I’m glad you took part in the giving and getting this year, if you don’t usually do so as you say Christmas isn’t a big thing in your family.

Those new layouts are gorgeous! I see my new base layout! <3

It was kind of a way of describing the way they looked, in comparison to American children who are loud and hyper and mostly disrespectful in Korean terms. My cousins are definitely not sad or shy when we were hanging out. My bad wording caused a lot of confusion among commenters. I should really try to avoid that more.

Lol I always find that amusing when two people look alike and have different personalities. It's like identical twins! I don't have a sister though so I never really get the feeling of being similar to anyone.

I think that sounds familiar. I read your blog a lot except for past few weeks, even if I don't have time to comment. I'd be WAY annoyed if a little kid played with anything in my room, so I think my room should be off limits to kids! Lol! When you slept in the living room, did your brother or your parents give up their rooms as well? I was rather annoyed this time because I don't see why the daughters couldn't have gone into my brother's empty room with their parents but my mom says adults need privacy. So I guess adults like me don't need privacy. -.-

We were talking about Jebediah though! Lol I've never heard of anyone named Mitchell! I still think its funnier than Bob Evans. The Bob jokes that were here 5 years ago aren't funny anymore.

Lol wow so those guys are 20+ … no I didn't know guys could be THAT immature. Wow……

Yeah, I’m gonna aim for a solid B this time around when I retake. I should have a better mindset by the time the summer rolls around too so that should help as well. And yeah, it was definitely the pictures. I need to stop being lazy and start making separate thumbnail images instead of resizing the really big ones so that’s my task I plan to have done before 2012 when I open my revamped site because my photography page also does the same thing lol.

And of course catching up on tv shows is an absolute must for breaks :D

I was thinking of blogging on Christmas but I didn’t have time lol. That was a first because normally my Christmases stretch on and on and on forever but this one was kind of fun so it went by fast :)

I think that’s awesome your proud of your brother :) That sounds like a great feeling. You graduated! Yay! Now I guess comes the fun part of getting a job or going to grad school whatever your preference lol.

Hahahahaha a cookie with glasses ^-^ /hehe

I would have been happy with that gift too. That is a nice cup and totally handy especially if she’s a big hot-drink person :)

And your premade layouts are really good. I especially love the top ones like mint, lilac and bumblebee :)