Christmas Unwrapped

This Christmas was pretty good to me. The Basketball team gave me an early Christmas present with a trip to Indiana and North Carolina and the means to see family. My paternal grandparents were able to make it to our game at Ball State and to spend some time with me before the game. It was really good to see them. Then in North Carolina I got the best gift of the year when my parents made the drive up from South Carolina. Just being able to hug them made the entire trip worth while. Even though Mom and I did not reach my predicted 30 hugs over the course of 2 days it was a great visit. I miss my family a lot and only wish I could do more than the weekly phone call. Mom and Dad thank you for driving up to Chapel Hill!! I love you both very much!

I spent Christmas Eve up in a town called Lompoc with my friend David's family eating Tamale's, rice, and beans. They are a very nice family and funny. This is the second year I've spent Christmas Eve with them and surprisingly even David's Grandparents remembered me; I guess it's not to hard with my red hair. I also accompanied David back to Santa Barbara that night to open presents with him and his roommates and after a short nights rest drove back up to Lompoc Christmas morning to spend more time with his family. I was happy that I didn't have to spend Christmas alone and even happier that I didn't have basketball practice that night.

I'm sure some of you are wondering what I got for Christmas so here's the scoop:

I got some DVD's, some books that I've been wanting to read, an Ansel Adams book, a sweatshirt and a scarf.

I also got a turtle to put by my front door:


Any suggestions for a name?

And I'm especially stoked about this one! It's called a Zen Dolphin: