What are your plans for the holidays?

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

What are you guys doing for the holidays this year? Do you have to travel far to spend it with family? Or maybe you're going on holiday (vacation to you Americans)?

This December has been a bit all over the place for me. My dad is in hospital this week but he will hopefully be out before Christmas! We postponed our usual Christmas Eve celebrations to next week so that he will hopefully be feeling better by then! But I'll still see the other side of the family on Christmas day. No trips planned, but I will be submitting my PhD thesis in January which means I will finally have a break!!!!! Maybe head to the beach or something!

[Suicune's Fire]

Oh Sarah, sorry to hear about your dad! :[ I hope he's okay! Oh my gosh, your plans include submitting your PhD thesis. xD #brave

My brother's birthday is on the 24th, unfortunately for him, so I'll be seeing him then and sharing Christmas day with my family and my girlfriend's family. I get so excited for everyone to open their presents from me. >w<

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Oh Sarah, sorry to hear about your dad! :[ I hope he's okay! Oh my gosh, your plans include submitting your PhD thesis. xD #brave

My brother's birthday is on the 24th, unfortunately for him, so I'll be seeing him then and sharing Christmas day with my family and my girlfriend's family. I get so excited for everyone to open their presents from me. >w<

I think he'll be okay. He had surgery to remove a growth in his lung and is recovering super well. However they did find that it was cancerous so he will need to have radiation once he's recovered. Just gotta hope it hasn't spread anywhere else, but waiting on some more scans. He is like the most fit and healthy person ever so it's really sucky and gives you a lot of perspective about life. But he has a great chance of a full recovery, so it could have been a lot worse. But yeah, really not in a Christmas mood this year haha. On the other hand I just put in the "notice of intention to submit" form for my thesis. LOL basically gotta tell them I am submitting in one month so they can find examiners and stuff. So close now! :D

Haha, my cousin's birthday is on Christmas day so we always have to make sure to say happy birthday to him. It would suck having your birthday around Christmas, at least when you're a kid. Watching people open presents you got them is seriously the most fun part. A lot of my family are fairly blunt though so I'm always a bit worried when my grandparents are opening things. xDD

[Suicune's Fire]

I think he'll be okay. He had surgery to remove a growth in his lung and is recovering super well. However they did find that it was cancerous so he will need to have radiation once he's recovered. Just gotta hope it hasn't spread anywhere else, but waiting on some more scans. He is like the most fit and healthy person ever so it's really sucky and gives you a lot of perspective about life. But he has a great chance of a full recovery, so it could have been a lot worse. But yeah, really not in a Christmas mood this year haha. On the other hand I just put in the "notice of intention to submit" form for my thesis. LOL basically gotta tell them I am submitting in one month so they can find examiners and stuff. So close now! :D

Haha, my cousin's birthday is on Christmas day so we always have to make sure to say happy birthday to him. It would suck having your birthday around Christmas, at least when you're a kid. Watching people open presents you got them is seriously the most fun part. A lot of my family are fairly blunt though so I'm always a bit worried when my grandparents are opening things. xDD

That's great news. For sure. We're all just as mortal as each other, and eating well and treating yourself with respect is the best way to ensure health, I reckon. But it is scary that it's largely out of our control, too. Is it just me, or is the concept of radiation really, really creepy? Irradiating something to get rid of it...while irradiating your whole body in the process. Yeah, fair enough. I've found that Christmas is less fun in my adult life, haha.

Oh, there is no "at least when you're a kid" about my brother. xD He's still sour about it. But for fair reason. As he's gotten older he's had to help prepare for Christmas on his birthday so it got worse. xD Poor thing. I spent a bit more on his birthday than I did my other siblings, because he does a lot for me and I know how cut up he gets about when his birthday is. xD Yes, it really is! Kas and I went all out last year and spent a ridiculous amount in each other; over $200 each. That did not happen this year. xD We were like "Let's learn from our mistakes..." XD Oh yeah, that sounds a bit scary. I actually don't like it when people watch me open presents because I'm a little scared I'll give the wrong reaction. XD

[Neo Emolga]

That's great news. For sure. We're all just as mortal as each other, and eating well and treating yourself with respect is the best way to ensure health, I reckon. But it is scary that it's largely out of our control, too. Is it just me, or is the concept of radiation really, really creepy? Irradiating something to get rid of it...while irradiating your whole body in the process. Yeah, fair enough. I've found that Christmas is less fun in my adult life, haha.

Oh, there is no "at least when you're a kid" about my brother. xD He's still sour about it. But for fair reason. As he's gotten older he's had to help prepare for Christmas on his birthday so it got worse. xD Poor thing. I spent a bit more on his birthday than I did my other siblings, because he does a lot for me and I know how cut up he gets about when his birthday is. xD Yes, it really is! Kas and I went all out last year and spent a ridiculous amount in each other; over $200 each. That did not happen this year. xD We were like "Let's learn from our mistakes..." XD Oh yeah, that sounds a bit scary. I actually don't like it when people watch me open presents because I'm a little scared I'll give the wrong reaction. XD

It's gotta suck to have Christmas on your birthday. I'm sure it's not like you get double duty with presents either. But yeah, Christmas has a bit more of a magical feel as a kid, whereas when you're grown up, it feels like it's a bit more work to prepare for things, but you can still have some fun with it.

Meanwhile, off hand, I've had my birthday fall on Easter Sunday a few times (birthday is April 8th). Getting Easter candy and presents on the same day is quite a deal as a kid, though. :3

[Suicune's Fire]

It's gotta suck to have Christmas on your birthday. I'm sure it's not like you get double duty with presents either. But yeah, Christmas has a bit more of a magical feel as a kid, whereas when you're grown up, it feels like it's a bit more work to prepare for things, but you can still have some fun with it.

Meanwhile, off hand, I've had my birthday fall on Easter Sunday a few times (birthday is April 8th). Getting Easter candy and presents on the same day is quite a deal as a kid, though. :3

Absolutely! And his partner's family does Christmas on Christmas Eve, so he always goes to a Christmas function on his birthday...which sucks. xD Yeah, true! Of course I still have fun, but it's less fun now that I mostly know what I'm getting and I haven't believed in Santa for a long time. XD

Absolutely. xD I've known people who gave their children presents on Easter which was weird to me because we only got a few chocolates and that was it. I was so envious when my friend in grade 6 got Pokemon cards for Easter. XD And like 3 million tonnes of chocolate.

[Neo Emolga]

Geez, sorry to hear about your dad, Sarah. Hopefully everything goes well with his treatments. :3

This year, we're going to my brother's new house for Christmas Eve, and then we're going to my cousin's house for Christmas Day. It's the first time we've done this before, so it should be interesting to see how it works out, but I'm looking forward to it. It should be fun and hopefully the traffic isn't too pesky.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Thanks Neo! I'm sure everything will be fine! :)

That sounds like fun! Having Christmas at your own house seems like a ton of work (plus food is expensive, at least here!). So it's always nice to go somewhere else for the holidays. :) Good luck with the traffic! I'm going to my uncle's about an hour away on Christmas day so I'm sure well be faced with the usual traffic as well. xD

[Neo Emolga]

Thanks Neo! I'm sure everything will be fine! :)

That sounds like fun! Having Christmas at your own house seems like a ton of work (plus food is expensive, at least here!). So it's always nice to go somewhere else for the holidays. :) Good luck with the traffic! I'm going to my uncle's about an hour away on Christmas day so I'm sure well be faced with the usual traffic as well. xD

Amen to that! It's easier to just bring a box of cookies or donuts to contribute to the dessert pile, but yeah, having to cook on Christmas is definitely a lot of work and I'm no master chef either.

And yeah, in both cases, my brother's house and cousin's house are about an hour away, just in totally different directions. I think driving to my brother's place will be okay, even though I haven't been there yet, but driving to my cousin's house in Staten Island is going to be rough. That's a really busy area and I think traffic is going to be rough. Might be a good idea to listen to some Christmas tunes on the way just to help relax the craziness away. XD

[Chibi Altaria]

Aww, Sarah! D: I'm so sorry to hear about your dad, but hope things are going well and I'm sure he'll be okay! He's lucky to have you all there for him. :D

As for me, I'm spending it with my mum this year instead of my usual dad's side of the family. Since she split up with her partner things have been tough for her, and she needs the extra support. <3 Unfortunately for me, she also kinda forgot that I was coming up to visit her and made plans with other friends, so now I have to tag along aha. But it should be fun all the same. And her friend's house that we're going to even has a pool! XD Which will be great cause Christmas is gonna be a scorcher. ;o;