Is Odysseus a Hero??

Is a hero the guy flying around big cities, impossibly strong and wearing a cape with underwear over a spandex bodysuit? The guy who always arrives just in time to save the girl? Or can a hero simply be someone who always places the safety of others before their own? By definition, a hero is someone admired for their courage and nobleness. Odysseus may have had courage, yet he constantly placed his men in danger and cheated on his wife more than once; Therefore, Odysseus is not a hero.
“My men came pressing round me, pleading: `Why not take these cheeses, get them stowed, come back, throw open all the pens, and make a run for it? We'll drive the kids and lambs abroad. We say put out again on good salt water!' Ah, how sound that was! Yet, I refused. I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer-no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends.” Odysseus was a man of pride and sometimes, too much of it. His men proposed a perfectly safe plan, one in which everyone would get away unharmed, and Odysseus threw it down. He had to meet the Cyclops and by doing that he was putting his best men in danger-so much that by the end of their Cyclops encounter, he had lost half the men he had taken to the cave. His pride comes out once more as they leave the island and Odysseus mocks Cyclops and mockery is not the way of a true hero.
Besides his excess of pride, Odysseus is easily sidetracked from his main goal of getting home to his wife, Penelope, and his son. It was acceptable when he slept with Circe, the witch, for the freedom of his men. What is unacceptable, however, was for him to stay more than one night because she requested no more than that. There was no need for him to stay five nights which, in reality, turned out to be five years! Just as well, when Odysseus reached Calypso's island-alone-he was not obligated to sleep with her or even stay on her island; he stayed there by choice. On top of that, while he enjoyed the company of another woman , Penelope was weaving and unweaving her shrine every night in hopes of his return. A true hero would not give into temptations such as Circe and Calypso.

Without Choice

At night, they sleep on a wooden bed, no pillow, just a hole so that their hair can hang and not be ruined by sleep. In the mornings, they dress in elaborate kimono, with matching obi; a white powder covers their face and lips are often a bright shade of crimson. Growing up, they learn to play the shamisen, a small, guitar-like instrument, they are taught nagauta(singing), tea ceremony and dance. They are geisha. For centuries the geisha have entertained Japanese men at teahouses by dancing, singing or simply flirting with them. In these ways, a geisha is respected and held much higher than any prostitute.
Perhaps the biggest difference between a geisha and a prostitute is that geisha are well cultured in performing arts. In fact, the word “geisha” is Japanese for “artist”. When a girl begins training as a geisha, they practice the shamisen, singing and above all else, dance. Only the most attractive and promising young geisha are chosen to continue dance. Therefore, as Mameha tells Chiyo in Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, “ 'Dance has everything to do with it; if you look around at the most successful geisha in Gion, every one of them is a dancer.' ”(174) Sure, others may sing beautifully or play their shamisen well, but it is their dance that seems to capture the attention of a man.
On the other hand, there is no difference between a prostitute found in Japan and a prostitute in Paris. In the Japanese culture, however, a prostitute can be identified by certain aspects in their apparel. Chiyo's sister was sold into prostitution and when Chiyo visits her, she makes an observation, “They wore kimono and hair ornaments similar to a geisha, but their obi were tied in the front rather than in the back. I'd never seen this before and didn't understand it, but its the mark of a prostitute. A woman who must take her sash on and off all night can't be bothered with tying it behind her again and again.”(94) Also, the role of seduction differs extremely from the life of a prostitute to the life of a gieisha. The only thing a prostitute has to offer is their intimacy...from there, men can do what they choose with the girl.
Lastly, geisha were accepted and respected in the Japanese society because their traditional views of seduction were surprisingly quite relaxed. In fact, it was perfectly fine for married man to be in love with a geisha and for this reason, many geisha had a danna. Back in the 1940s and 50s, the word danna was used for the word “husband”, but because a geisha does not marry, their danna is someone who pays a very large amount to-in a way-take the geisha as his own. She is free to flirt and entertain other men, however, a geisha and her danna are usually quite attracted to one another and may meet a few nights each week on a very intimate level, and in return the geisha will have a steady income and often receives many extravagant gifts, like kimono. A geisha's reputation would be ruined if she acted as a prostitute, giving in to any man who wanted her company in bed. Chiyo learns, throughout her years in Gion, “A true geisha will never soil her reputation by making herself available to men on a nightly basis.”(171)
The bed of a prostitute is always occupied by two, although the partner may differ from one hour to the next. They live under poor conditions-selling all they have left. They wear their obi tied in front, clearly marking themselves for society. There is no escaping this terrifying position. A girl does not become a prostitute because they want to be, but because they have to be; and this may very well be the only similarity between a geisha and a prostitute, neither was ever given a choice.

Silly Bands, Really??

I think that schools took the right step in banning the Silly Bands.

Recently, even in the high schools, kids are trading, and playing with these animal shaped rubber band bracelets in class. I see it every day! They wear them on their wrists, and trade them amongst each other."I'll give you my flamingo for your dolphin?" and this goes on through out the days. However, and I'm willing to bet this occurs mostly in elementary schools, they have caused quite a distraction. Kids play with them during class-when they are supposed to be paying attention-and when they trade, they find that they just might want their seahorse back. Besides this, the Silly Bands are simply a fad. Next year, they are all going to wonder why they wore animal shaped rubber bands half way up their arms.

a product of bloggers block

This morning, I could not think of a thing to blog about...until I came along Bridget Fitzgerald's blog, and decided I would steal her idea. She wrote a little about the things she loves, and I thought that it was a brilliant idea because everyone loves different things, so here I go:

I love...

My family. They have always been there for me, no matter what. If I need my mom or dad to count my laps for me as they watch me run the two mile in track, I always know they will be somewhere near the finish line every time I pass by. The rest of my family is fantastic too, although I wish I saw my cousins more often.

Laughing. I will at almost anything. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who laughed, and sometimes I will think of something funny earlier in class and still laugh about it-but I can't help it and most of my friends feel the same way sometimes, so it all works out hahahaha(:

Running and crazy as it seems, I love distance running. Since I run cross country and track, I kind of have to. But there's something relaxing about going on a long, 8 mile run during summer, in the middle of nowhere(we did this at cross country camp last summer). There's also a great sense of accomplishment after every early-morning practices, again during the summer for cross country conditioning. I always feel happier when I have finished any sort of running whether its a long run or a track work out to build up speed.

Summer. I honestly dont know how the kids in China survive going to school year-round. With out summer, we would have absolutely nothing to look forward to! And I can't possibly imagine sitting in the school in the middle of July or August. Summer is when I spend days on end at the pool or with friends.

Baking. Baking is one of my favorite things to do when I'm at home. Some of my favorite things to bake are brownies and peanut butter cookies(the best cookie dough ever!!).My mom always made chocolate chip cookies when I was little, and I would always help her make them(but of course it was only because I knew I'd get some chocolate chips and cookie dough out of it). Now I actually like the baking part, but the love of cookie dough clearly hasn't changed.

Art. Anything creative, painting, drawing...I love it all. Ever since I was little I have loved it and someday I hope my career will involve art of some sort. When I draw, I don't know how much time passes by and when people ask me how long something took me, I absolutely no idea!

Friends. I don't know who I would be today if I didn't have the most amazing friends here with me. They too, like my family, will always be there for me. I have a group of best friends, and some are more like sisters to me. I know I can trust them with everything, and count on them for anything. We have been through a lot, and we would never want to lose each other.

I now have well over 400 words in this post, so I'm going to stop it here. Sometimes its fun to see really think about things that you love, even if they are really random.

SIMUN

The Wednesday that SIMUN started, I was a nervous wreck. I had done all my research, answered all the prep questions, and yet I didn’t think I was going to be ready to debate with a group on the topics. I really prefer not to talk in front of a bunch of people, and that’s what SIMUN is, basically. What really scared me was whether or not I could answer the questions people would through at me after I had given a speech.
I’m pretty sure the first day of SIMUN, for me, was a fail. The most difficult part is when your country has absolutely nothing to do with the situation and could probably care less whether Google decides to pull out of China or not. I had Zimbabwe, you see, and it rarely had any connection to the scenario at hand. That is, until the very last day. As SIMUN came to a close, my group had one scenario left and it involved the 2008 Presidential Elections in Zimbabwe, in which I was required to speak many times. The hardest part for me, was figuring out what position my country would take on each situation. Of course I had my own opinions of everything and I found it difficult when I agreed with one thing and then I would realize that Zimbabwe would not agree so I had to fight against my own thought sometimes, not just other countries.
In order to prepare myself for SIMUN I did a lot of research on my country, Zimbabwe. This helped a lot in understanding your own country and to help you consider what type of sides your country would be taking during SIMUN. Although, what helped me the most was definitely the prep questions we were given before SIMUN. On the first day of SIMUN I soon realized that those questions were the base of which our discussion topics were built! They were very helpful to me because rather than just throwing random topics at you for a scenario, you really knew and understood what has been going on.
To better prepare myself for next year I really need to think about the questions I might ask the other delegates as well as moves I might make as my country to get more involved in situations that do not directly affect my country. I needed to have asked more questions this time, and looking back I can see that. I was a little worried, with it being my first SIMUN experience, my questions would not make sense or have much importance to the crisis and then I heard people asking questions very similar to those I had already thought of.

SIMUN blog

Responding as a delegate from Zimbabwe:

Zimbabwe would agree that it is a good idea for the U.S. to secure the nuclear materials in Pakistan. I can see that if these materials were to get into the wrong hands, such as those of Al Qaida or the Taliban, the world would have a very big problem. Therefore, Zimbabwe believes that any extra help in securing these weapons would be a good thing for Pakistan and it would ensure that no terrorist groups get a hold of such powerful weapons.

According to “Pakistan's Nuke Materials AT Great Risk” from www.npr.com, “Pakistan's stockpile faces “immense” threats and is the world's least secure from theft or attack.” Seeing that the United States is a very advanced nation, Zimbabwe believes it would be very helpful to the Pakistan people and government to secure these weapons from outsiders. And, although Zimbabwe is not a fan of the United States, Pakistan is one of their few allies and can see that this is what's best for the nation.

As I stated before, if the nuclear weapons were to fall into the hands of terrorist organizations like the Taliban or Al Qaida, the world would have an extremely large problem. Not only would it affect the countries around Pakistan or just the U.S. but it would bring everyone into the picture and the world could fall into chaos. I do not believe anyone of the other delegates would want this to happen, I certainly would not since Zimbabwe has its own instability to cope with, it does not need war on top of it and we would feel obligated help and keep close ties with our ally, Pakistan.Zimbabwe hopes that with the help of the United States, they will be able to secure the nuclear weapons because if they are able to successfully keep them out of the Taliban's reach, we will be able to keep the rest of the world safe as well.

A few weeks ago I began Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. It is the story of a young girl named Chiyo, who is sold to an okiya-where geisha live-as a maid because her mother is almost dead and her father cannot support Chiyo and her older sister. She begins training to become a geisha; although she can only think of her family and her sister, whom she had been separated from. She tries to run a way, but does not succeed and is no longer allowed to learn to be a geisha and is forced to be a maid. As she grows older, however, she became recognized by her rare, blue-grey eyes and a very well-known and successful geisha, Mameha, and she is soon on the road to becoming a geisha once again.
What amazes me about this book is how different the culture is in Gion, a district in Kyoto, Japan. Young girls are taken away from their families and sold to a geisha house in order to become a geisha. Now, one may wonder, what is a geisha? A geisha is a Japanese girl who is trained all her life specifically to entertain men. They start training at a young age and learn how to pour tea or sake properly for men, dance, tell stories and even how to play an instrument called a shamisen. As girls grow older, they find an older, successful geisha to be their “older sister” who will help them become successful, and share their knowledge with the young or “novice geisha”. The most successful geisha of Gion are extremely respected by the women in Kyoto, many give very deep bows to the geisha as they walk through town-and all they do is entertain men.
I find it so interesting how different to cultures can be so different. If this occurred here, in the United States, people would be appalled. Women have so many more rights here, and have so much respect for themselves. Besides that, children here would not be sold at a young age to do what the geisha do. Right now, I am at a point in the book where Chiyo is exactly my age and I could not imagine having to do all that she does to be successful.

29 Degrees and Sunny

It was early. The majority of my blankets were off; I was shaking-although I wasn't sure whether it was due to being cold or nervousness before the track meet I'd be running in later that morning. Glancing at my alarm clock-which read 5:46 am- I pulled my covers over my head in attempt to get back to sleep. However, the only thing that I could think of now was the meet. I had to be there by 8:30, and I was running the mile at 9:30. Nerves are a normal thing for me before track meets, I've been running track since 7th grade and I have always, always ran the two mile, nothing more, nothing less; this mile was going to be something completely new. I continued waking up, shaking and checking the clock about every twenty minutes until around 6:40 so I could eat something before, but far enough away from the race so that I wouldn't feel like puking after. I stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen I went to start a good, pre-race breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast with peanut butter. As soon as I finished, I went back up stairs, brushed my teeth, and got dressed in my light and navy blue track uniform-along with sweats and my varsity jacket because it was only 29 degrees- I then threw my iPod, my spikes and a couple granola bars into my bag and walked out the door.
After my dad dropped me off at Franklin (where the meet was taking place) I walked up to the track to find that only a couple of my teammates were there yet, so we just stood around for a minute until more of our team arrived and we set all our things down behind one of the field goals. By 8:40, anyone running the mile had arrived and we started to warm up: two laps around the track, drills and stretching. From there, you just have to stay loose until the race. At 9:30 exactly, boys and girls running the 1600m(a mile) were called to the starting line; I was thankful that the guys ran first. As soon as they finished, we were told to take off our clothes-meaning out sweats-and get to the starting line. The most nerve-racking moment of the day had finally arrived: the wait, which seems to last years, for the gunshot. “Runners, take your marks...” BANG!! And we were off. I wanted a good start, I believe I got one. I got out fast and really tried to keep my pace steady, and quick, keeping my stride nice and long. I would finish in the top ten, for this was the mile and more than twenty girls were running it. I felt good, I keep a good pace and the time I was trying for was 6:10. At the end, I did not make that time, I finished 8th, with a time of 6:27. Not bad for my first competitive mile ever, and with more practice that time will decrease. Running is a mind game, if you believe you can and tell yourself that you've got this, you can easily accomplish anything. Easy as that seems, its not. It is so easy to tell yourself, “She's just faster than me” because most of the time, all you want to do is stop when you know you can't. I think I can do it...I've just got to get past all the nervousness.

Snowboarding Lessons

Snowboarding is a very challenging sport. One which involves good balance and control; I learned that this Sunday when a few friends and I decided to learn how to snowboard at Mt. Brighton.
It was Kelly Glynn, her sister Katie, Taylor Cieslak and I who had made plans to get up early Sunday morning, meet at Kelly and Katie's house and get out to Mt. Brighton around the time it opened, which was around 9:00. And that is pretty much what happened. I woke up at 6:30 (we had to be at Kelly's by 8:00), ate some breakfast and rushed around getting ready and gathering all my snow gear. I threw my hair into two braids and put on some comfy/warm clothes: yoga pants, a tee-shirt and my fleece North Face jacket.
I was at Kelly's house right on time and we arrived at Mt. Brighton a little after nine. Kelly, Katie and I all had to rent boards and boots; they also had to rent helmets, I did not because 1.) I don't exactly like to put items on my head that have been worn by many others and 2.) I was borrowing a spare and slightly too small, too tight helmet from Tay, but it worked nonetheless. I found the boots to be a tad funny looking though, they made your feet look short and stubby; I bet Shaq's feet would even look small in them! The boards we got were very simple, wither black or white with an unknown logo stamped in the middle of the board.
Soon, it was ten o'clock and time for our lesson. The first thing we learned how to do was “glide” or “skate”, which is how you get around while you're not speeding downhill. I learned that you always keep your front foot locked in the bindings and the other foot can either be placed in front of or behind the board and then you just use the loose foot to push yourself along, almost like on a scooter or a skateboard. First I was really slow at this, but I got the hang of it after a while. We then proceeded onto riding in a straight line down the bunny hill. Now, these straight lines, I could do. However, stopping and turning not so much. Those are probably the most important or useful areas, and I thought they were the hardest. This was because to turn you had to either slightly lift your toes or your heels, and almost always I didn't lift them enough, or I lifted them too much and lost balance. Stopping was the same thing. If you stop on your toes, you can lean too far forward and fall head first into the snow and if you stop on your heels, lose balance and fall backwards, you take a hard fall on your bottom. I've experienced both and I can tell you falling face first is the way to go...because my tail bone still kills to sit on.
After the lesson and a couple practice runs on the bunny hill we all moved onto the intermediate hill; much bigger than the bunny hill. And the tow rope was much longer! We also had to go up “backwards” because the left side was not working. And I actually found that to be more comfortable than the normal way. We all took many falls on this, but I did have a few smooth runs....after I made sure there would be no one in the way. I had a very good time and definitely want to go back again!

Centerline Invitational

I awoke that with to morning smell of toast and scrambled eggs as it drifted into my room from the kitchen downstairs. I stumbled down the stairs soon remembering what day it was: our cross country invitational meet at Centerline. I knew that if I couldn't earn my varsity letter today, it was most likely that I would not earn my letter this season. Or at least that was the attitude I went in with, hoping it would force me to push my self harder than ever before to get my time below 22:30 for a 5k race. So I ate my eggs and toast, hoping they would give me that energy boost when I needed it most.
When I arrived with my father at the meet, the weather didn't look too good, cold, windy and the sky looked as if a storm was on its way. We looked high and low for the rest of my cross country team, but eventually found them on the side of the school. As a team we proceeded to do our pre-race routines, a few laps around the school and into the surrounding neighborhood, stretching and agilities. Once we finished we just relaxed and kept loose until about twenty minutes before the race. From there, time passes in a blur as we get our spikes on, do some more agilities, more stretching and head towards the starting line. Once we got to the starting line we did some run-outs and huddled to give words of advice and encouragement to our teammates. Once back at the starting line runners wait until the last possible minute to take off our sweats, line up with the fastest runners in the front and that included me. I was nervous, so nervous I was shaking in my shoes! As I tried to focus on my race I took my spot at the line, put my right foot forward and waited for the gun to sound.
“Runners, take your marks..” BANG!!
And all the runners sprint forward! Racing to the front and trying to get to the inside before the first turn. The sky had opened up and rain was pouring down on us as the winds blew against us. I found myself in a good spot and soon found my pace as I passed the girls ahead of me as I continued on my 3.1 mile trek. The first mile was good, 6:45 I believe, but the second mile always seems to be the longest as well as the hardest and looking back you always wish that you had done better during your second mile. As I started my third mile, I came upon a straight away in which I found myself slowing down simply because the straight aways can often put a runner to sleep. I sped up as soon as I noticed it and as I came around the last corner where absolutely EVRYONE was waiting for their daughter, teammate or friend to finish the race. I saw my dad as he yelled that I had around ten seconds to left in order to get a varsity time and earn my letter. From that point I sprinted, faster than ever before and crossed the finish line with a time of 22:26. I had done it. I had earned my varsity letter and on top of that I finished 15th out of a hundred and some girls. It was the JV race, but hey, I'm only a freshman. As soon as I got through the crowds at the finish I ran to my dad and collapsed into him, giving him a big hug as I breathed, “I did it.” to him. He had tears in his eyes and I had just earned my varsity letter...as a FRESHMAN! Not many get to do that. I was sopping wet and freezing but nothing mattered to me more then earning my letter.

US missionaries in Haiti charged with child abduction

The missionaries should be tried in Haiti.

“It was Haitian law that has been violated, it is up to the Haitian authorities to hear and judge the case,” said Paul Denis, Haiti's Justice Minister(US missionaries charged in Haiti). Some have suggested the missionaries be tried in the United States, but this would be unfair to the Haitian government since the crime was committed against them. The man who came through Amsterdam to Detroit with a bomb in his pants was tried in the U.S., the country which the crime was committed against, why should this be treated any different? Because that was an act of terrorism? And this seems to be an act of kindness? A crime is a crime, and on any level it should be tried in the city, state or country whose laws the crime had broken.
“I feel good,” the missionary group leader, Laura Silsby, told reporters. “I trust in God”
If she is so comfortable with what will happen, then it really shouldn't matter whether they are tried in the U.S. or not. Much has also been said lately that many parents had willingly gave their children to the group because they were injured badly and would simply not be able to provide for their kids. If this is the case, then the court should acknowledge this fact and maybe even find some of the newly disabled parents and make sure this is all true.

First Semester Review

I feel I have learned a lot during my first semester in the Stevenson Global Education program; especially in the English portion of it. I have always liked writing, but I feel this year I was introduced to a completely new type of writing. This had to do with writing about event s that were either taking place currently in the world or in history. Never before was I given a news article to read, margin note and then write a one or two paragraph essay to state my opinion on the situation. Did I support what was happening or not? What did I think they should be doing? Well, to be honest, I had no clue. Sometimes I didn’t even know what I thought of the situation because it didn’t seem to affect me in any way. And I often asked myself why we had to do this, because I am no expert on these sort of cases. I had to think really hard about what I thought. Once I had my stand, I needed to support it, which was probably the hardest part. Of course I had reasons for my thoughts, but I wasn’t exactly sure of how to make them into two whole paragraphs. And as the year progressed, I felt much more comfortable with these assignments.
Margin notes were another thing I learned to do this year. Before, it was always just highlighting, but now I had to write down my thoughts and ask questions and summarize the articles. At first I wasn’t really sure what to note on, or what to do, but now it’s all very easy to me and when I’m given an article, in any class, I feel like I should be margin noting.
The movies we watched in class like the Rabbit Proof Fence and The Power of One really seemed to help me understand what was happening in the countries we were learning about. I also went to see Invictus over winter break and I found that some events I was reading about in the articles were the ones I saw in the movie and it really helped me connect better to the history of South Africa and the Apartheid.
In class we went over grammar and the usage of capitalization and apostrophes. I was surprised to find the mistakes I made sometimes and I also had some questions answered. Like, I always wondered if “it” was used in showing possession, as in saying,”There was a long, red dress and on its skirt …” I came to find out that “its” would not have an apostrophe, once and for all. The apostrophe in “it’s” is only to be used if you are to be combining the words “it” and “is”.
This was the first year I was in a class where we actually had a debate, and it was on the topic of the Rwandan genocide. I found that I don’t have much of a voice when it comes to this, but then again it didn’t seem like many complaints were thrown at my group’s part and Paul Kagame. Although looking back I feel there could have been times where we should have spoken and did not.
All in all, this semester has been pretty challenging, but when I received the letter we had to write from Paul Rusesabagina to the U.N. and realized I had gotten an A, I was realized that all my hard work had definitely paid off!

If I Were a Native...

I would want to be an Aborigine from Australia.

I believe out of all the natives we talked about in class, the Aborigines more peacefully than any other native tribes. They experienced the least amount of violence and were simply pushed aside by the white settlers. A fence was built to separate them, and sometimes a young Aborigines would be taken from its family or tribe. However, they never went through murders like those in Rwanda, nor have they gone through times as rough as the natives of South Africa.

Also, the Aborigines were able to uphold their culture through it all. A culture that has been present at least 50,000 years on Earth. It's amazing to think that a culture started so long ago has not been changed by man and that the people continue to uphold the traditions the ancestors began thousands of years before them. They literally live day to day and I cannot help but wonder what that must be like.

Christmas Break!!

I had quite an eventful Christmas break. Starting Friday night I went to Gabe Baugher’s sister and brother-in-law’s reception party at Genetti’s in Northville. They were having the party because they were married over the summer in Oregon and many family members were not able to fly out there for the wedding. Gabe and I were ordered to take pictures of the party all night long, and I’d say we took some pretty good shots. Taylor Cieslak was also there and when Gabe and I took a break from picture taking, we danced and ate and had a great time with Taylor. My favorite part was definitely the dancing! They had a DJ and as the night went on, the space clearing for dancing was soon filled…with some adults who might have had a few drinks… Gabe, Tay and I found it quite entertaining. It was a great night and I even got paid for taking the pictures.
Christmas is most definitely my favorite holiday. Every year, my dad’s family comes over for Christmas Eve. So, on Christmas Eve I often find myself cooking or baking and cleaning; helping my mom to prepare for the night. We usually make Christmas cookies, some sort of cake and cheese cake. I made the cookies and I chose to make a coffee cake this year. Now, I would consider myself a good baker, however sometimes I do make the mistake of not reading all the directions…I was supposed to put a ½pint(or one container) of sour cream into the cake and I had mistaken the pint for cup. So I put half a cup in, which was about half the container instead of the whole thing. And when I tasted the batter, it was fine, it didn’t taste weird or anything..it was kind of thick but it was supposed to be thicker. So I put it in and it turned out fine, until I had a piece of it and it was dry. So, the cake was a fail but the cookies were good!
Christmas morning we got up early and opened presents! This year, I really wanted a new digital camera, one that was better than the one I had and I got one! I also got clothes, an iPod shuffle for running along with other stuff. One of my favorite things about Christmas morning is opening the presents with the glowing tree as your only light source. Then when my brother and I finished opening presents, my mom started breakfast. We always, always, always have cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning! And they were delicious!! Later we went to my grandparents (my mom’s parents) house for dinner and more presents with my uncle, aunt cousins and grandparents. I’d say I had an excellent Christmas this year!