hear them bells? them jingle bells?

so maybe there is some christmas spirit all the way in australia. at least my family was able to send some my way! rachel, a girl from home is also staying in surfer's paradise, merely a street away from jason and i. small world! she was lucky enough to have her parents visit for christmas. i went over thinking i was to pick up a bottle of mascera and $35. very pleasantly surprised, when i walked in the door, rachel's mom was holding my stocking! my tacky old teddy bear stocking from home. that, plus a bag of goodies which i haven't looked at yet. not until christmas! it was half me avoiding christmas spirit, and half the fact that is no christmas spirit, but seeing that stocking, regardless of what is in it made me really happy. i felt like i was at home with my family again.

today, we had some intense rain. on the brightside though, i was thinking that if that rain had been snow, we would have had the whitest christmas ever! the raindrops tonight were so huge, and reflected so much off the sky, it even seemed like they were snowflakes. pretty neat to see.

aside from receiving that awesome surprise, i was also commissioned to make a painting as a christmas present. mom, i haven't told you about this yet! one of my friends who i met last week, he found out that i did art. he wanted to have a skateboard deck painted for his friend and was having a rough time finding someone to do it. lucky for him, and lucky for me, i was able to do it. today was such an inspiring day. and yesterday as well. when i went to the mall/target, i also picked up 3 novels. i've been looking for some good reads this entire time to sit on the beach and enjoy, but there arent' any book stores in surfers. i was so excited to read (since i haven't properly finished a novel in over a year), that i read the entire thing, save 6 chapters, in one sitting. then i did this painting. the best thing about it, was that my commision-er, he paid for the painting, PLUS the supplies. now i have a decent set of brushes and tons of extra paint to use .. all while watching the office!