I think I have to come out of hibernation. Sad. How is it possible that today is New Year’s Eve? I usually eat up this time of year - I love lists and recaps and best ofs. But I have missed all that stuff this year. The entire month of December just blew by me.

We went to Texas for a week and it was glorious, despite my having a sore throat and cough that took my voice for the better part of four days. The combination of our not having many non-holiday days in town and my sickness kept us from seeing a lot of non-family people, and I was grateful for it. It feels like we spend a ton of time in Dallas running all over town to spend a few minutes with a ton of people, but all it really accomplishes is making us tired. So this year was a nice break from that.

Santa was good to me. I got, among other things, a sweet pair of cowboy boots, a gorgeous black wool coat, a Willow Tree nativity scene and a homemade (by my dad) set of portable washer pits. Aaron got Guitar Hero 3 and a bunch of Curb Your Enthusiasm DVD sets, so we’re set for entertainment for a while.

There were frustrations, as there always are, and we learned a little bit more about our families and how to deal with them and which people we like better than others. But overall it was a good week. We played games, watched movies, made desserts, slept late. We gave what I thought were very clever and thoughtful gifts, and we even got some in return that were the same.

We also got a ceramic donkey-horse, but that’s another story for another day.

We are driving to Texas for Christmas tomorrow. TOMORROW! How can this be? Somehow, even though I have been all over the shopping and the decorating and the baking, Christmas has snuck up on me.

We had a lot of Christmasy stuff going on in Nashville this year, and it seems to have all blown by me in no time. I want to take a minute and get it all down so I don’t forget.

- We had a big fat girls night out with the youth group girls. We got all dressed up, went to a fancy dinner at Buca di Beppo and went out to the Opryland hotel to walk around and take pictures and try to pick up some holiday spirit.

- We went to a church leadership party at the pastor’s house. I’m sure, as a staff person, that I was supposed to behave myself and try to talk to everyone there and be really friendly and pleasant to the elders and the care group leaders and such. Instead, I hid on the back porch with the youth staff and we took the head off a light up reindeer and mounted it above the fireplace when no one was looking.

- The church staff hosted a luncheon for the staff of the baptist church across the street to say thank you for all their help this year. I’m sure that I was supposed to meet everyone and be gracious and serve people drinks, but instead I hid on the back porch with the youth staff of the other church seeing who could catch grapes in their mouth from the furthest distance.

- I took my youth staff to the Behold the Lamb of God concert at the Ryman for their Christmas gift. I was really nervous, because that music and those artists are really important to me and I knew I was kind of putting myself out there by sharing it with them. The in-the-round portion was a little tedious (I am so not on the Pierce Pettis train), and a couple of people left at intermission, which I have to say kind of pissed me off. But y’all, that BTLOG portion is so amazing. It was so fun to watch people hear it for the first time and to hear what they had to say about it afterward. Our executive pastor downloaded the album immediately and has been listening to it nonstop all week.

- We had a hugely successful video scavenger hunt for our youth group Christmas party. Highlights included: junior high boys trying to do cartwheels; a seventh grade girl offering to pump someone’s gas, then asking him to show her how to do it; a group of senior boys dancing and singing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” around an inflatable tree in someone’s front yard; and one group running into another group in a parking lot and knocking down the human pyramid they were building, seen from two angles on two cameras. Also, we played Rock Band. I heart that game.

- We had the first meeting of the college/young adult care group Aaron and I are starting. We did a Dirty Santa gift exchange in which a giant black lace bra was stolen three times and a pig catapult left tiny plastic pigs all over my house. I would say it was a success.

- Tonight we are having a pizza/gift wrapping party for the youth at the church. The church has been buying gifts for needy families all month, and it’s our job to wrap them and get them out the door. It’s always a really fun time.

Then we drive home tomorrow! So crazy. I can’t wait to get there.

Today is the only day off we have had in the last two weeks, and the only one we will have off until we go to Texas for Christmas next week. We are having a pretty busy season.

So. Today is our day off, it’s cold and rainy outside, our Christmas shopping is finished and we have the stuff to make breakfast for dinner. All we need is some entertainment.

Aaron went to Blockbuster and got the first season of Friday Night Lights. We had heard it was a good show - one of those that’s critically acclaimed but not terribly popular.

Oh my gosh, y’all.

We had watched about thirty seconds when Aaron said, “I think this is my new favorite show.” We’ve now watched three episodes and I have bawled my eyes out three times. They are not messing around with this show. We are totally in.

Is there a good way to deal with passive aggression? Because I am at the end of my rope.

I realize that what passive aggressive people want from you is for you to to react, because then they can be all, “What? Whoa. Where is this coming from? I didn’t say/do/instigate anything. You’re crazy.” Then you look like the idiot. And I don’t want to look like the idiot.

But how do you fix it? There’s obviously an issue, and it’s one that you know about, but since they haven’t brought it up directly to you, you don’t really know about it. But you know. And they know you know. And you know they know you know.

I definitely have passive aggressive instincts. I can also be pretty spiteful. I’m not exactly proud of those qualities, but I’ve got ‘em. And sometimes I would love to just unleash them into this situation. Just to make myself feel better. Because I am better at being a jerk than they are. They have nothing on me.

But. I have done that enough times to know better. I know it won’t help. Even though it would feel really good. I like winning.

So I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to approach them about it… not just because I know it won’t accomplish anything, but because it will most likely make things worse. All of the conflict resolution stuff I know is useless here. There’s no clear answer. And that just pisses me off, y’all.

Around the same time I started working at Reba, a country group called Sugarland was coming out. It was two girls and a guy, and the lead singer girl had this annoying twangy voice that drove me nuts.

They kept putting out songs, and the songs kept doing well, and they were everywhere. EVERYWHERE. CMT played on the big screen in the lobby all day, and I heard that girl singing all the time. It was not pleasant for me. At all.

Last year she was part of CMT Giants: Reba, the show we went out to LA to see being taped. She annoyed me there, too. She annoys me all the time everywhere forever and ever amen.

But.

Then Sugarland put out a song called “Stay”. It’s more mellow than the bulk of their stuff, and the twang is toned way down. It’s just her and a guitar. It’s well written with a good little twist at the end.

And y’all? I love it. I love that stupid song. It gets to me. The other day I even sat in the car in the driveway just to hear the end of it. I downloaded it from itunes.

I paid money in order to be able to hear a Sugarland song whenever I want.

I am so ashamed.

I have a question about time travel.

Say I go to bed right now, at 10:30pm. I wake up tomorrow morning at 6:30, getting 8 full hours of sleep.

Then I travel back in time to 10:30pm tonight and sleep for 8 hours again.

When I wake up, did I get 8 hours of sleep, or 16 hours of sleep?

Dinner at Baja Burrito hangs in the balance here. And possibly the happiness of an entire youth group.

(Wondering about the last poll? This is super exciting… I went with the ones I already had. Once I hung them in the new house I decided I liked how they hang after all and am keeping them. So thanks for all your votes that I completely ignored.)

You guys. YOU GUYS.

Back on the first of November, I signed up for NaBloPoMo, where you post every day in November and at the end there are prizes and stuff. The chances of winning a prize are pretty slim - it’s really more about just writing every day and keeping things up to date on your blog.

And y’all, I did it. I posted every single day in November.

Except YESTERDAY. The last day of November. I posted 29 times in a row and then completely forgot to post on the last day.

GAH.