My Christmas Vacation by Lisa

You know how in school, whenever you came back from a holiday you had to write an essay about it? My Easter Vacation, My Summer Vacation, My Best Birthday Ever. Well, here's mine, but unlike in school, i get to use pictures.

My Christmas vacation was awesome. It was the best ever because first of all, i didn't have to go school. I mean work. Also, i got to see my cousins who i almost never get to see. Never. And i got to see my cousin's son, my...second cousin? He gave me my first palm frond rose ever. He had it made at a party. I'd bet he's going to be a real charmer when he hits High School.

 And I have to say, I know that there are lots of you who think that I can't cook. I know that I joke about it, but the truth is, I can. And pretty well. I'm not a everyday cooker, and I'm not great at creating family meals, but I can do amazing things. Take for instance, at my cousin's house. My lovely cousin Karen has a strict no hassle policy for holiday cooking so there were no sweet ingredients in the house, except: yellow cake mix, can of cream cheese frosting, spray bottle of white cookie icing, multi-tube of sprinkles. One train-set cake pan later, I had this:

The cake overflowed a bit, so we made those into mountains. Then, after dying the icing red, green and brown (okay, chocolate, not dye), I made the mountains and let Zach decorate the trains.

That thing on the side is a house. And while you can't see it, we covered the whole thing with white sugar sprinkles as snow. I also made Whoopie cookies, though those came with a mix as well. There was no powdered sugar for the icing though, so I filled them with Cool Whip and froze them.

So yes, this is the moment I say "HA. SO can cook."

Also got to see my other cousin's baby. I think they'll need to buy one of those automatic vacuums to keep her busy when the new one come :)

 Finally, one of the biggest reasons that this Christmas vacation was AWESOME was because I got accepted into Grad School. In fact, I spent quite some time discussing my desperation with my cousin Scott--worrying that I'd never get in, and become a sad, pathetic, educational institution-stalker, who would throw everyone with a degree out of my mini-mart from sheer jealously. As soon as Scott left, I went up to check my email and I had a letter from the head of the Department of English Language & Literature saying that she was offering me a spot in the Medieval Studies program. I immediately ran downstairs to my cousin Jerry, who was taking a football nap after staying up til 4am working, and screamed "Hug me! Hug me!" all the way to tackling him on the couch. He looked pretty scared until I explained what was going on, at which point he picked me up and yelled with me. It's nice to have people to celebrate with you.

Christmas day was wonderful, with lots of presents sent from home, and lots from Sceth and Kerry (Scott/Beth, Jerry/Karen). I got my first tea steeper ever, with the loose tea and everything, and I got chocolate hand lotion. Actually, they pretty much bought out Ulta.

So that is why my Christmas vacation was awesome. I hope for lots of more awesome times with my fam and friends. The End. (And yes, I did include that at the end of all my essays)