Instead of saying Merry Christmas I wanted to say Merry summer. My family and I moved my senior year of high school to California and it was nothing I wanted it to be. Kids would ride on skateboards and surf in the ocean but for me I drove a Honda Civic and I was that girl that wore jeans on a 90 degree day. I felt so out of it, it just wasn't home.
Christmas came around quick with the things to do in Cali. It was Christmas Eve and we were having family over for a big dinner, they only lived an hour away so it was not that big of a visit. My best friend Nikki back at home in Illinois, facetimed me before my family arrived and we talked for over an hour. I Already knew they would have tons of snow because i saw it on the weather channel a few days ago. She showed me her christmas tree with all the pretty ornaments and the snow flakes slowly falling onto the five inches they already had. It looked a lot more like Christmas by her, then I looked out my window and saw my neighbors tanning and smelled all sunscreen they were using. It definitely did not smell like pine trees and peppermints in my house.
Then Nikki started talking about all the decorations around her house and I didn’t want to show mine because my parents had no decorations up, except for a tree but it had no lights. I showed her all the presents I had and she said “That’s it?” and I was surprised because there’s usually not many anyway so why would she say that to me? Then when she showed her presents the entire room was filled with freshly wrapped christmas paper and pretty sparkly bows. Nikki said “Hopefully I get everything on my list.” I became a little frustrated with her attitude considering I was the one that was frustrated in the first place about moving. I hung up the phone assuming we’ll talk again that night.
Family began to arrive and my dad started grilling… yeah grilling. We grilled hamburgers and french fries the night before Christmas, which we never used to do so this was a huge change for me. My brothers and parents loved it and called it home after one week, but I called it “the house” because it didn't seem right. I hoped it would get better and my brothers would help me enjoy it.
As dinner was ending, family slowly crept out the door until it was just my family, we sat by the fire talking about what we were going to do on Christmas. My brothers wanted to go surfing, but I wanted to go visit Nikki in Oswego. Finally my family went to bed and I laid there just thinking about life, I facetimed my friend and we vented to each other how much we missed seeing each other everyday. She kept saying “I'm so jealous of you! You have warm weather and a pool in your backyard”, but that is not what I wanted. I thought about everything I have in my life and where I live and how thankful I should be.
I finally fell asleep and woke up to the smell of fresh baked pancakes and bacon. It's something my parents always make on Christmas so this was a good start to my day. My brothers started tearing presents open at seven in the morning, but I didn't start  yet because I wanted to sit and watch him enjoy this time because it really goes by fast.
My brother says “Hailey, there's only one present for you”. As I look under the tree and see one present left and I was a little shocked because my parents knew I had a hard time with this move so I thought I would get something crazy to cheer me up. My dad handed me the little box, I opened it slowly since Christmas goes by in the blink of an eye. It was a set of car keys: as I turned them around it said JEEP on them. My parents got me a four door Jeep Wrangler and it was all decked out like I wanted.
When I was a little girl I would tell my parents “I want a jeep” and how I would be rich and buy one for all my kids.
I sat there in shock just amazed and thankful. I never knew this day would come. My dad took me outside to take a drive and when I got in the car there was two tickets to Chicago IL. I was going to see my best friend in Oswego again and tell her all about my new jeep. I knew then I needed to be more thankful for what I have and to be happy. I will still be able to see my best friend and live in Cali.