Taking advantage of the fact that I was finally in the Christmas spirit just a week away from December 25th, I began to create personalized Christmas cards for everyone who wanted one, including a little card-sized drawing within each of them. For several days, I did nothing except make those letters. I had a few dozen people to make cards for, and by the fourth day, I knew I couldn't make and send them all before Christmas. That, and my mom demanded that I took a break to celebrate Christmas with the family. When she said that we'd be doing four consecutive days of Christmas celebrations, on top of another few days of New Years' celebrations the week following Christmas, I kind of panicked, and not just because of the pandemic. 

If you don't already know, I'm an extreme introvert. I'm more or less borderlining on being a hermit at this point in my life, which I'm personally alright with. But, God blessed me with a large family of extreme extroverts who especially adore me for whatever reason. I wasn't sure how I could survive four straight days of Christmas celebrations with my rambunctious Washington relatives. But, I knew I didn't have much of a choice, given that my family would end up at my house at least two of those days. All I could really do was find ways to cope, starting with stocking up on enough diet Coke to get me through those four days. It would certainly ruin what little sleep schedule I had left, but at least I could survive the family gatherings without turning into Krampus; ibex horns and all. 

To kick Christmas off, Mom came home from the store early Saturday afternoon with more than just groceries. She had bought several bags worth in cheap Christmas decorations, and another two bags filled with brand new toys. Turns out, she had signed us up to join the annual Gig Harbor Christmas parade. The Christmas decorations were to be zip-tied to the car, and the toys were to be donated to the toy drive after the parade. On top of it all, my little brother was instructed to wear his obnoxious inflatable T-rex suit and sit in the front seat, ringing sleigh bells as we drove. Oh, we had sleigh bells for the truck too. Along with elves, garland, lights, a sparkly "Merry Christmas" sign for the grill, and much more. 

Of course, my first instinct was to stay home. After all, I didn't want to be seen in an Xterra decked-out in Christmas decorations with an elf driving and a T-rex in the front passenger shaking sleighbells out the window as we drove through town. But, regardless if I went, we have the only blue Xterra in town with Colorado plates (even if I didn't go, I'd still have to drive around town in a very recognizable vehicle afterwards), and my mom promised to let me get some Christmas shopping done if I just went with them. Plus, all I had to do was sit in the backseat and pretend not to exist if I wanted to. Well, I was told that until Mom dressed up the puppy in a reindeer outfit and told me I had to show her off as we paraded all around Gig Harbor. 

So, with just an hour before the parade, I rushed to help Mom zip-tie as many decorations to the Xterra as possible. To be honest, we didn't get many decorations on the car, but it was at least something. 

Begrudgingly, I got in the backseat with Penny the reindeer and held my face in my palm as my little brother clambered into the front seat in his inflatable T-rex suit.