Last of the Quarter

Hey Everyone,
Chelsea here, I just finished my last final. I am so unbelievably excited to go home tomorrow morning. Eric's teachers decided that they were going to give all of their finals early, so he got to home on Saturday. Lucky! (Napolean Dynamite).

I haven't posted by myself in awhile. Just to catch everyone up, my birthday(November 18th) was pretty fun. It went pretty much the same way as Eric's did, except that I had to go to class in the morning and afternoon. The pianist that plays for my dance class's birthday is the same day as mine, so we sang happy birthday to her, and then I hugged her and we reveled in the fact that it was both of our birthdays...fun stuff.

My aunt Chukkie, uncle Al, and cousin Nathan were kind enough to have us over to their house on Sunday, November 16th for birthday celebration. It was so nice of them, Eric and I really appreciated the thoughtful evening. It's always fun to hang out with family, and our cousin Nathan is a great kid. It's fun to play games with him because he has such a beautiful imagination. You never know what he'll come up with!

Our parents and cousin Lexi came to visit us on Saturday, the 22nd for a joint birthday celebration. We had intended to go to the zoo or aquarium, but we didn't really have the time. Instead, we showed Lexi around the campus because we wanted her to see what college life is like (Lexi will be 12 in January, so she's got a little time), we had lunch at the Ram in the U Village (which was very busy because it was Apple Cup day!), and we ended up going to the Burke Museum and the U Bookstore. It's always fun to see family!

The weekend before last was Thanksgiving. We had a lovely dinner with on Thursday with our uncle Tony (Dad's youngest brother), aunt Mintie, and step-cousins Johnny and Julie.

On Friday night, I went with my best friend Kaylie and her parents to the Festival of Trees. Every year, businesses around the community decorate and donate elaborate Christmas trees and wreaths which are auctioned off on Friday night. The Vern Burton Gym is decorated and restaurants all over Port Angeles cater. It's so festive and beautiful. I used to dance at the Teddy Bear's Tea on Friday morning, which is a fund raiser for kids, but my ballet school eventually stopped doing that. The trees stay up for the whole weekend, and then volunteers deliver them on Sunday. All of the proceeds go to Olympic Memorial Hospital. Some trees sell for up the $3,000, although bidding was a little lower this year due to the failing economy.

On Friday afternoon, our cousins Jessica and Andrea, uncle Dick, cousin-in-law Chris, and Jessica and Andrea's kids Hannah, Stella, and Abby came for a Christmas extravaganza. They usually come closer to Christmas, but Andrea is pregnant and due shortly after Christmas, so we wanted to make sure that they were here well before her due date! It is always so much fun to see our family, and we had such a great time. We baked and decorated Christmas cookies, exchanged some gifts, and overall just hung out and had fun.

On Sunday, we all went up to Golden Years, which is the care facility that our dear Granny Duncan has been living at for the last two and half years. She has lived the last ten years with an Alzheimer's-like disease. She had not been doing well, and had recently developed some kind of infection. My cousins, siblings, parents and I got to say good-bye, which was so meaningful for us because she unfortunately passed away the following evening. Our grandmother was such an amazing and influential person, words cannot describe what she meant to my family and to our community, which she served tirelessly for many years. We love her very much and are so happy to know that she can finally be at peace.

After we said our goodbyes to Gran and the rest of the family, we headed back to school. Today was my last day, I just had to do my history 261 final, so I am officially done for the quarter. I can't promise any consistent blogging over the next couple of weeks, but we'll give it a try. Happy Holiday season everyone...although I'll be seeing most of you who read this within the next week. Remember to tell your family and friends you love them every chance you get!