I'll Be Home For Christmas

Welcome to my first Christmas flying solo! It's actually not been nearly as tough as I thought it would be. I've been trying to do Christmasy things this whole week to get myself in the Christmas spirit, despite the lack of snow and family. One of the coolest things I did this week was going to the Candlelight Processional at Epcot with my friend Alex. There was a huge choir there they was composed of professional singers, cast members, and local high school students. The celebrity guest the night I went was Brad Garrett (the brother from Everybody Loves Raymond). He read the Christmas story, and did an awesome job! He was very funny too! Besides freezing my bum off, it was a very cool event and I hope to able to do it again next year! I also made homemade sugar cookies this week, a Schutz Family Christmas Staple YUM!

Last night for Christmas eve, nine of my friends came over and we had a candlelight lasagna dinner. This is also a Schutz Family tradition. I'm was pretty proud of myself for the whole meal turning out well. Look at me turning into Gail, one meal at a time. It was way fun having everyone over for the meal, and in a weird way eating lasagna on Christmas Eve made something that was so abnormal (me being away from my family on Christmas) feel a little bit more normal.

My friends and family have spoiled me soooo much this Christmas season. When my parents came down in November they very graciously bought me a new computer as my Christmas present, which was more than enough! Then this week, my mom and dad emailed me to tell me not to argue with them, but they wanted me to go to Epcot's Norway pavilion and get a new jacket and perfume. I guess my ogling over these items was a little too apparent during their visit. Throughout the past week I've received Christmas candy from my second Mama, Jackie Lam, lotion and lip balm from Stacy and the little girls, and Christmas presents from my parents, Genny, and Eric. Btw, it just seems that all is well in the world when your eating a Jackie Lam Peanut Butter Ball. So flipping good!

So with all the extra money my roommates and I have, we decided to go all out on decorating our apartment. And by all out I do mean we cut out paper snowflakes from paper we had borrowed from the recycling at work, put up garland one of the girl's mom had sent, and used green wrapping paper to cut out a Christmas tree that we hung on the wall. It's been fun to have all of our Christmas presents stacked under our pathetic little Christmas tree. On the bright side, no one has complained of stepping on pine needles....

This morning I went to work, and we were SUPER busy! I just wanted to scream at these people, "WHY ARE YOU HERE?!?!" The Magic Kingdom reached full capacity by noon and therefore no one else was let in the park. I bet it was really fun to be inside the park when it was at full capacity!

Thanks to Skype I was able to have Christmas this afternoon with my family and Eric. All I can say is being good all year really paid off! I received horseradish (odd, unless you really know me), running clothes, an awesome running watch, bodyglide (again, I actually am really excited about this), a backpack, an ice cream maker (YES!!!!), pajamas (yes, all my sisters did in fact get a matching set), an awesome running watch complete with GPS, and a Kindle! Once again, way too much! I'm beyond grateful to be so loved!

Weird to think that this may very well be the last blog I write as a Walt Disney World Intern! January 1st is my last day of working. Don't worry though, until then I'll be working EVERYDAY starting at 7:30 or earlier! January 3rd I will be moving out of my current apartment and heading down to Ft. Lauderdale. I've been studying my city codes as well as airline definitions. I'm eager to hear back about the specifies of flight training. I've heard the training schedule really varies, so I'm praying there won't be class on January 8th, as that is the day of my half marathon. I'd be pretty devastated if I'm unable to run in it. Not only did I spend over 100 fat ones on the entry fee, but it's something I've been training really hard for (ok, maybe not really hard) and I REALLY want to run in it. Either way, the training has been a great experience!

Merry Christmas everyone! My love to you all!