Christmas List Research Paper

Grayce had to create a Christmas list for all of us family to gang up and figure out what to get for her. As it turns out, I haven’t seen my little sister, Grayce, in almost a full year, as well as, I haven’t been home in Colorado for Christmas in three years. It has been rough, and Grayce has been taking it the hardest. I live in Fort Myers, Florida and go to Florida Gulf Coast University. I left home to go to college in year 2010, it is now year 2013. Kyle, my older sister, also doesn’t live at home, in Colorado, but she goes home to visit much more than I do. My job and school prevent me from leaving the state very often and when I find out when I would be able to have off, the flights are too expensive or the timing doesn’t work out for the family. But this time it will. Nevertheless, Grayce made this Christmas list, and the only thing that was on there, in big bold colored and enthusiastic, was the word, “RYAN.” The only thing that she wanted for Christmas,

was me.

Day 1 - Partial travel day (Wednesday)
8:00AM - 12:00PM - Flight from Fort Myers, Florida to Dallas, Texas.
12:30PM - Arrive in Kyle’s (big sister’s) car and drive to her apartment!
12:45PM - EAT!!
1:00PM - 3:00PM Arrive at Kyle’s apartment and begin to help them pack up to move.
My big sister Kyle is living with her boyfriend, soon to be fiance, Scott, and they are getting ready to move from this apartment to another one. I am excited for her because I know that this move means a great deal to her. They are moving from Addison, Texas to Irving, Texas. Her poor fiance Scott was having to commute a longer way than he should have to get to his work. So they changed that. Now Scott doesn’t have such a big commute and is not spending so much money on gas.
3:00PM - Eat more food, hopefully not cooked by Kyle (she burns everything).
3:30PM - 7:30PM We relax.
Relaxing with Kyle isn’t like taking a nap, it's pretty much just not doing work or anything stressful and playing board games or just having fun in ways that aren’t tiring. In this case, we sat down and played lots and lots of games, while watching television. We played Apples to Apples, family known card games, like Spit, Pounce, and Golf, and the well known card game, Speed. We also played Sequence and of course, Qwirkle. Sitting and relaxing turned out to not be so relaxing and nonstressful. We are both very competitive people and get very involved in what we do. Therefor, we didn’t just sit down and play for fun, we played to win.
8:00PM-9:30PM - Go out to dinner, and buy dinner for Kyle and Scott
10:00PM - Arrive back at the apartment and go to bed.

Day 2 - More traveling (Thursday)
6:00AM - Wake up call and say goodbye to Scott (he has to work early).
8:45AM - (actually get up) - Speed get ready.
9:00AM - 9:30AM- Pack car.
9:45AM - Last look around apartment and make sure that I don’t forget anything.
10:00AM - Get on road!
10:30AM - Pit stop for breakfast.
11:00AM - Begin driving to Aurora, Colorado.
This drive from Addison, Texas to Aurora, Colorado, is a 13 hour drive, counting the time change.

I haven’t ever driven Kyle’s car before, because it is new. I also don’t have the greatest history with cars. I am a good driver, the only thing is that, not all of the other people that drive are good drivers. But since this was a 13 hour drive Kyle and I took turns driving. I’m sure she had the capability to drive all the way there herself, but I offered to drive part of the way and as long as I promised that nothing bad would happen to her car, her, or me, she was fine with letting me drive. She drove for the first four hours, and then we made a stop for food and bathroom breaks. After that, I got to drive. Let me be the first to tell you that Kyle’s car is a Volkswagen Passat 2013 V6. That car is smooth fast and feels like a racecar when you are behind the wheel. Not that I have ever driven a racecar, still. It was so satisfying. In Kansas, I ended up getting pulled over… So, Kyle took over driving

again.
8:00PM - We stopped to get dinner.
2:30AM - We arrived in Aurora, Colorado, home (we arrived a tad bit later than we had planned. I guess we took a little longer than we thought to eat and such).
3:00AM - 7:59AM SLEEP!!!

Day 3 - (Friday)
So, I am surprising Grayce, she still doesn’t know that I am coming home. Nor does she know that Kyle is coming home. I am honestly very worried that Grayce knows, or that the surprise won’t turn out as good as I am hoping, or that she will be happier to see Kyle than me.. That night I fell asleep very quickly and easily. But it was definitely not the best sleep that I have had before.
8:00AM - Surprise Grayce!!!
I was dead asleep, and I woke up to a little girl hugging me and crying. I sat up and she hugged me and hugged me.
8:05AM - Grayce ate a quick breakfast with one of her best friends, Karly.
8:10AM - Walk Grayce to school.
“I don’t think that I’ve seen Grayce this happy in a while,” is what Karly told me while we were all three walking. Grayce then blushed and squeezed me. The whole way to the school that was right down the street, Grayce, Karly, and I talked and talked about how much fun we would have these few days I was home, when I was going to come back home to live and stay, and about this plan of me coming home.
8:30AM - Back home, eating breakfast with Kyle, Mom, and Dad.
9:00AM - Shower and get ready.
10:00AM - 3:00PM - leave to hang out with Koulton, Jon, and other high school friends.
Koulton and I have been friends since we were little, little kid and Jon and I have been friends since high school. Whenever we hang out, everything we do is confidential.
3:30PM - Get back home.
3:45PM - 5:00PM - Take a nice long, enjoyable nap.
5:30PM - Walk and pick Grayce up from volleyball practice at her school.
6:00PM - 8:00PM Have some nice Grayce, Kyle, and Mom time
This time with the three girls in my family includes, winning at all games we play, and making them super frustrated because I am winning at all of the games that we are playing.
8:00PM - Dad gets home and dinner is being made!
8:30PM - Dinner is ready
My parents always cook the best homemade meals. This night, my parents made Schnitzel which is one of our great family recipes. We all sat down at the table as a full family prayed and ate.
9:30PM - We all sat down and watched a television show, and I helped Grayce with her homework while we watched.
10:30PM - Kids got ready for bed while parents watched the news.
11:00PM - Off to bed!

Day 4 (Saturday)
11:00PM - 10:59AM - Sleep!! Sleep in!!
11:00AM - Wake up to Grayce, Kyle, and Cookie (Grayce’s dog) jumping all over me and my bed. I was also blessed with waking up to the smell of bacon and waffles.
11:30PM - Brunch is served!!
The whole family gang gathered up and we ate outside on our back patio. This day happened to be one of the niced days that you could imagine in early December. While we sat we laughed and talked about what everyone would want for Christmas. Mom said she didn’t need anything and Kyle said she wanted us to save our money, but that if we were to get her something to get her something useful. Dad rambled about some cool boat stuff and then settled down and said that sunglasses would be useful. I just kept it simple and said that I wanted something cool if anything, cause this was a good present. Grayce’s was the best. She said that she already got everything that she wanted this year. We all said she was being ridiculous and made her pick at least a couple things and then told her to make a list. After all of the Christmas talk, we talked about what we were going to do that day.
1:00PM - 4:00PM - Go to Cherry Creek dog park with Grayce’s dog (actually a family dog) Cookie and our family dog Hana.
4:30PM - 5:00PM - Get back home and all do our own thing.
5:00PM - 5:30PM - Get ready to go to Kyle Newhouse’s party.
6:00PM - 9:00PM - Go to his party.
Kyle Newhouse and I became friends in high school and we’ve stayed friends since.
10:00PM - Spending the night at Kyle Newhouse’s house.

Day 5 (Sunday)
8:30AM - Wake up go home
9:00AM - Start getting ready for church.
10:00AM - 10:20AM - Wait for the girls to finish getting ready for church.
10:25AM - Leave for church.
10:30AM - Arrive to church and find seats.
11:40AM - Sneak a donut from church and go home.
12:00PM - Back home and eat brunch with family
1:30PM - 4:00PM - Go to movie with family.
4:30PM - Walk to park with siblings and dogs while parents cook another lovely meal.
6:00PM - Go home and eat dinner
After dinner - Until late - Play games!!
This goes the same as it does with Kyle. We are all very competitive and get very involved and into the game and what happens in the game.
Go to bed - Crowned the Qwirkle champion!!

Day 6 (Monday)
7:30AM - Wake up!
8:00AM - Say goodbye to Grayce.
Saying goodbye to Grayce always includes lots and lots of tears. She gets so upset knowing that people are leaving, whenever the person is someone close to her, she cries every time. This is why I said goodbye to Grayce before going to school, because then she can have a tear fest for the first one, and just shed a few, if any, tears.
8:10AM - Walk Grayce to school and say goodbye again.
8:30AM - 9:30AM - Get back home and pack up my bags.
9:30AM - 10:30AM - Write Grayce a note to say another goodbye and to thank her for asking for me for Christmas so that I could come out to Colorado.
10:30AM - 11:00AM Say goodbye to Mom and Kyle.
Kyle is lucky and gets to work remotely, so therefor, she stayed in Colorado until actual Christmas when Scott flies out and they drive home together after the holidays.
11:15AM - Leave for DIA.
12:00PM - Get boarding pass and check bag.
1:00PM - Through security, make phone calls and send out text messages to family and friends about leaving.
2:00PM - Take off for Florida.