Kiylee's Christmas Second Chapter

In case you wanted to here more, here's Chapter two of Kiylee's Christmas.



 Chapter 2 - Making Friends

    The party was only hours away and I was stressed!  I had talked to everybody at school and even though they all said they were coming, I was still worried that no one would show up.  After all, I really didn’t have any good friends yet.  I’d only lived here for a few months.  What if no one showed up?  What would I do?  How could I go back to school on Monday?  I shouldn’t have worried so much.
    The party started at 6:00.  By 5:55, my friends were already showing up.  By 6:30, 13 of the 15 girls I invited were running around my house.  I would never have admitted it then, but I barely knew some of these girls.  Some of them were from the popular crowd and I really wanted to fit it.  To tell the truth, I was kind of surprised that they showed up, but I was glad they did.
    We had great fun at the party.  We started with pizza and videos.  We played some games and opened presents.  I got some cool stuff, like makeup, jewelry, and books.  Presents are always nice, even if they aren’t the reason for the party.  After that, we had cake and ice cream.  Then we spread out our sleeping bags for a late movie.  It was after midnight when Mom and Dad went to bed and the real party began.  We ran around the house, got into makeup, got out Mom’s curling irons, and just made a mess in general.  Mom said that we could make popcorn and it got thrown everywhere.  It seemed that my new friends were out of control and I couldn’t do anything to stop them. 
    About 4:00 a.m., some of the girls, including me, started to get tired and we finally fell asleep.  I heard later that two girls stayed up all night.  I don’t know if they did or if they just said that so we would all think they were cool.
    Mom woke us all up about 9:30 for breakfast.  Dad made French toast and orange juice.  Most of the girls didn’t even want to get up, but they finally did.  At least Mom and Dad were nice enough to throw their fit after all the girls left.  They said that I could never have another sleep over, that I was irresponsible, you know, all that grown up talk.  I told them it wasn’t me, but it didn’t seem to matter.  I was the one who was going to be punished because they were my friends.
    It didn’t take long before half those girls at school were mad at me for some reason anyway.  I guess they weren’t really interested in being friends, they just wanted to come to the party.  Since Mom and Dad were still kind of mad, I didn’t care that much.
    It was the holidays and we always spend that time together as a family anyway.  Nathan had his first birthday right after mine; then it was time for Thanksgiving.  Mom and Dad had planned a huge Thanksgiving feast at our new house.  Some of our relatives had not been to see us yet, so Mom and Dad had a gathering of about 50 people planned from both sides of the family.  I thought they were crazy!  I know our house is pretty big, but where were they going to put all those people? 
     But Dad had it all figured out.  He rigged up a table in the dining room out of two huge pieces of plywood.  All the grownups except Mom and Grandma sat in there.  They got the best food, but we had plenty for us.  Because Dad was still unemployed, he started cooking the feast on Tuesday.  That gave him plenty of time to get everything finished.  Mom is not the cook at our house.  Dad and I can cook much better than Mom.  It works out, because Mom is always in charge of cleanup. 
    Thanksgiving was great.  I got to play with my cousins and eat until I nearly threw up.  My cousin, Todd, is about my age.  He told me that he was going to play basketball in a league right after Christmas.  I had never played basketball before, but it sounded fun.  After everyone was gone and we were cleaning up, I asked Mom if Neal and I could join this league.  They called it Jr. Jazz.  Of course, we knew that money would be a problem, but Mom promised to call and find out all the details.

    By Monday, Neal and I were both signed up to play Jr. Jazz.  I was really excited.  I had never played any basketball before, not even at school.  Other than practices and games with my team, it didn’t look like I’d be playing much anywhere else either.  We didn’t have a basketball hoop and neither did most of the neighbors.  Neal had a friend with one down the street, so it wasn’t such a big deal for him.  I didn’t have anybody.  Some of the kids played at recess, but it was mostly the boys and they didn’t think that girls were good enough to play with them.  Boy, were they wrong!  My Jr. Jazz team was awesome!  I don’t know how I landed on the best team in the league.  Most of these girls had been playing together since 2nd grade and they were good!  I started to worry that they wouldn’t like me because I couldn’t even make a basket.  Mom was sympathetic, but she made it clear that while Dad was not working, we couldn’t afford a basketball standard and I’d just have to practice at school.  I was starting to get used to disappointment.  I pinned my hopes on Santa Claus until Mom announced a homemade Christmas.  Not that I minded making gifts for my brothers and sisters; I liked crafts and sewing and painting and stuff.  I was just hoping for a gift that was clearly not possible.
    My basketball team played three games before Christmas.  I didn’t play much, but it sure was fun to win.  We had two girls who were almost six feet tall.  None of the other teams in the league had anyone over 5’6”.  I was not quite five feet tall and even though I practiced dribbling nearly every day, I still couldn’t handle the ball very well under pressure.  Our league was split into two brackets and our team was placed in the winners’ bracket.  They didn’t call us winners and the other teams losers, but we all knew what was what.
    We didn’t have a game the week before Christmas or for two weeks after.  My coach wanted to practice though, so twice a week, we met and ran through plays, even three days before Christmas.  After that final practice, the coach pulled me aside and said, “Kira, you really need to work on your shooting at least an hour a day.” 
    I didn’t know what to say.  “I don’t have a hoop,” I mumbled. 
   He looked concerned.  “We’ll call after Christmas and maybe you can come over and practice with Ashley,” he said.  “But if you ever want to be any good, you’ve got to learn to shoot under pressure.” 
   “See you,” I mumbled to Ashley and I ran across the parking lot to our van. 
   Dad was waiting for me.  “How was practice?” he asked cheerfully. 
   “OK,” I said.  I must not have sounded convincing because Dad looked at me with that ‘concerned parent look.’
   “What happened?” he asked. 
   “I don’t know,” I answered.  “Otto just thinks I should practice more, but without a hoop, it’s really hard, Dad.” I caught my breath and wiped the sweat from my forehead and chin onto my shirt. 
   I looked back at Dad and I could see the sadness in his eyes.  “I’m sorry, Honey,” he said.  “Being out of work isn’t fun for any of us.  I thought sure I’d have a job by now.”  He cleared his throat.  “Maybe Santa will come through,” he managed. 
   I shook my head, “Yeah, right.”  Dad looked at me.  “Don’t look at me like that, Dad.  You know lots of kids at school don’t believe in Santa anymore.” 
   “I guess they don’t believe in miracles either?” Dad asked.  He was getting testy and I really didn’t want to argue with him. 
   “I don’t know, Dad,” I answered.  “They don’t talk much about that kind of stuff.”  I turned my face to the window and rested my forehead against the cool glass.  Powdery flakes were floating gently to the ground as we turned into our subdivision. 
   “I guess we might have a white Christmas after all,” Dad offered. 
   “I hope so,” I said, glad of a safe topic.  Dad was so cranky these days; it was hard to have a conversation with him. 
   “Mom’s got a lot of work to do tonight, so I want you to quickly finish your jobs and get to bed early,” Dad said. 
   “What are my jobs?” I asked. 
   “Family room, batch of laundry,” he stated firmly, expecting an argument.  I groaned, but very softly.  I always got the hardest jobs.  Mom said it was because I was the oldest and I got the most privileges.  I’m not sure any of that makes up for the extra work.  “Honey?” Dad interrupted my thoughts. 
   “Yeah?” 
   “I do believe in miracles and in Santa Claus.”  I looked quickly to see if he were teasing me, but his face looked very serious and very sad at the same time.  I squeezed his hand.
   “Thanks for the ride, Dad,” and I climbed out of the car.  “I’ll do my jobs fast.  What’s for supper?”  I promised myself then and there to have a talk with the other kids about Christmas.  We didn’t really need anything but Dad to get a new job anyway.  I opened the front door and forced a big smile as I headed upstairs to get my laundry. 
    I did have that talk with my siblings and we all agreed.  Kinsey and Kiyna needed a little prodding, but they were OK after I told them how sad Daddy was.  They gave him as many hugs as they could over the next few days and on Christmas Eve, we went to bed with low expectations but happy hearts.  Dad didn’t act nearly as depressed and Mom sang Christmas Carols long after our lights were out.  Grandma and Grandpa Ockey were staying with us.  They had never spent Christmas with us before, and it was exciting to share that special time with them.  Uncle Randy was in Alaska, so only Aunt Deb and Aunt Amy came with Grandma and Grandpa.  Mom had lots of siblings, but only two of her sisters were married.  She also had two older brothers, but they lived halfway around the world and they didn’t come home much.
    Christmas morning dawned bright and early.  I stayed in my bed for a few moments, just listening to the silence and watching the Christmas lights twinkling in the hall.  I could tell that everyone was still sleeping.  I peeked out the window and smiled at the freshly falling snow.  “Good,” I thought to myself.  “Maybe Grandma and Grandpa will get snowed in and have to spend an extra couple of days with us.” 
I threw back the covers and made my way cautiously to the door.  Neal’s room was next to mine, so I woke him first.  “Neal!” I whispered loudly.  “Wake up, it’s Christmas!” 
   His eyes popped open and he grinned up at me.  “Did you wake the girls?” he asked excitedly. 
   “No,” I whispered, “you can do it.” 
   He threw back his quilt.  “I’ll wake the girls and we’ll let Kiyna wake Mom and Dad.”  He swung his legs to the edge of the bed.  “What time is it?” he whispered. 
   “Nearly six,” I answered.  “Let’s go wake the girls.”  Kinsey and Kiyna were harder to wake than Neal, but we finally convinced them it was really Christmas and they needed to see what Santa brought for them.  Nathan was sleeping with Mom and Dad, so we sent Kiyna in to wake them up.  After all, who could get mad at a cute little three-year-old with long blonde hair and big blue eyes on Christmas morning?
    Mom and Dad moaned and groaned, but they finally pulled themselves out of bed.  After waking Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Deb and Aunt Amy, we headed for the family room.  I tried to calm the little kids by telling them that Santa was extra busy and he probably didn’t have time to leave us as many toys this year, but I didn’t need to bother.  The family room was covered with wrapped packages and one really huge one by the back door had my name on it!  I tried to contain my excitement as the girls discovered dollhouses and Neal opened a guitar.  I finally got my turn, and as I ripped down the paper, I saw a picture of a basketball hoop and I shouted, “Thank you, Santa Claus!”  The basketball standard was obviously unassembled, but it was there and I began believing in miracles when I turned and saw the huge grin on Dad’s face.
   “Let’s put it together, should we?” 
Mom looked up from the dollhouse and smiled.  “You’d better stay in the garage,” she cautioned, “I think we’re in for a blizzard.”

Kiylee's Christmas First Chapter

I got permission from my mom to tell you all that follow my blog to hear a story that she wrote. She almost got it published, but she couldn't find a good publisher. So for every post I put up, it's going to show you each chapter of her book and that it was a true story about my sister. She wrote the novel, while I drew her some pictures in Paint to make it look like it's from each chapter. So here's Chapter 1. I hope you enjoy the book.

Chapter One - Moving In

    I was only nine when we moved from the house on Creekwood Drive.  I left my friends, my school, my teacher, even my dogs, but it was worth it.  We were all tired of tiny rooms and bunk beds.  I even had to share a room with my 7-year-old brother.  What a pain! 
    We started building our new house one week after my birthday in 1993.  My baby brother, Nathan, was only four days old when they dug the hole for our basement.  The house was huge, with four bathrooms and four bedrooms.  Mom would get an office and a craft room and Dad would get a three-car garage.  The kids would have a toyroom in the basement and a place to do our own laundry.  Like we really wanted the laundry room!  Mom said that it was both or neither, so I guess we’ll have a nice place to play.  We only have one washer and dryer anyway, so I don’t know what good it does to tell us that we have to wash our own clothes.
    Mom and Dad got a huge bedroom with a big green tub.  They said it was big enough for all of us to take a swim, but I don’t really think so.  Nathan is sleeping in their room, so, for now, Neal has a room of his own.  I don’t know why a 7-year-old needs a room of his own, especially one bigger than mine, but Mom and Dad never ask me what I think.  My little sisters get to share a room.  Kinsey is four and Kiyna is three.  They like to play together, so they don’t really care.  I get the last room.  It’s the smallest, but Mom says that I will never have to share with anyone so I shouldn’t complain.  They let me decorate it any way I wanted so I chose black and white flowered wallpaper and red chair rail.  It looks really cool.  Most people hate it, but I don’t care.  They don’t have to live there.
    We spent a lot of time in our new neighborhood even before we officially moved in because we had to move out of our old house on June first.  Mom and Dad were able to find us a squishy little apartment for those two months, but it was dangerous there and we had to stay inside most of the time.  The apartments were arranged in circles and there was a playground in the middle of each circle.  When we first moved in, we thought that we would be able to spend some time on the swings and slide.  But the first day we were out there, we found bullet casings under the slide and a boy chased us with a baseball bat.  After that, Mom made us stay inside.
    It was hard to stay in the apartment because we didn’t unpack anything.  Even though we put some stuff in storage, it was way crowded with boxes and furniture.  Mom and Dad felt bad that our house was running behind schedule, so as soon as Dad got home from work, we would all climb in the van and drive to our new neighborhood.  We walked around and got to know some of the neighbors.  We even put up our wallpaper and stuff in our rooms before the house was finished.
    Sometimes we would leave the neighborhood and go on a license plate hunt.  It was one of our favorite games.  Dad would drive the van around the hotels that were close by and we would look at all of the license plates.  Our apartment complex had plates from all over the country, so it was a good place to check.  One day we had nearly all of the states, so we begged Dad to keep driving.  We went clear in to Murray and Midvale, just looking for license plates.  We never did find Hawaii or Rhode Island.  Oh well, 48 wasn’t too bad for one day.
    Finally, our house was done.  We started at our new school on Tuesday and we moved into our house on the next Saturday.  It was all so exciting!  We’d been living in that awful little apartment for so long, our new bedrooms seemed huge.

    Since school had already started, I was plenty busy just trying to fit in, make friends, and do my homework.  Mom and Dad promised me that on the first birthday I had in the new house, I could have a huge sleepover with all of my new friends.  Since my birthday was in November, that gave me a few months to figure out who I really wanted to invite.  Mom limited it to 15 girls, but I wasn’t sure I could even come up with that many friends in just a couple of months.  I started making my lists and dreaming about the party.
    August and September slipped by and the weather started to turn colder.  We’d been able to wear shorts to school until it got too cold.  We usually didn’t even do most of our school shopping until traditional schools started because Mom said that the sales are always better in September. 
    I remember the school shopping trip very well, because Mom and Dad took us all to WalMart and we actually did all the shopping at once.  We’d never done that before.  Mom usually took us to two or three stores and we got a couple of things in each store.  Dad usually bought our school supplies and he just brought them home.  Well, not this time. 
    Neal, Kinsey, and I all got new shoes, socks, underwear, pants, shirts, and jackets.  Then Mom and Dad let us choose backpacks, notebooks, crayons, pencils, rulers, and all that school stuff.  We got to do that because Mom and Dad decided that we wanted to play a game to help us keep our new house clean.  They made each one of us a bingo board with jobs and when we got our first Bingo, we got a pair of socks or a new shirt.  With two bingos, we could get a backpack, and if we finished our entire board with a blackout, we got a new jacket.  Of course, we all worked really hard with prizes like that.  Everybody earned a blackout, so Mom and Dad took us all shopping at once.  I didn’t usually think much about money.   Mom and Dad pretty much bought us everything we needed, but I was surprised when I heard Mom tell Dad that our new stuff cost nearly $800.00.  That’s a lot of money!  But things were about to change drastically at our house.  Two weeks later, my dad got laid off from his job. 
    Dad is an electronics design engineer and he had worked for the same company since I was four years old.  We didn’t have a clue that his job was shaky, or we probably would never have built our new house.  Mom said that it tripled the amount of money we had to pay each month just to have a place to live.  As I said, I never worried much about money before, but after the layoff, it seemed to be a constant worry.  We couldn’t go to the store and just buy whatever groceries we wanted.  We had to be careful.  Mom started cooking more with the stuff we already had in the kitchen, like chili beans.  I like chili, but my brother and sisters don’t.  Neal only liked cold cereal and noodles, so he had a bad time.  I think there were lots of days that all he ate was what he had for school lunch and some bread and butter.
    We really thought that Dad would get a new job right away.  He did get some money from his company to help him find a new job.  It sounded like a lot to me until Mom explained that it would only make two house payments.  I started to wonder about my birthday party.  Mom and Dad aren’t always great about keeping promises like that, and if they had a good excuse, well, maybe my sleepover would be history.  I stopped telling my new friends about it and just kept my mouth shut.  
    About the 20th of October, Mom brought up the subject.  She asked me if I had my list ready for the party.  I was so surprised.  “I thought the party was canceled,” I said. 
“Why?” asked Mom. 
“Well, because we don’t have any money and Dad doesn’t have a job,” I replied.
 “Look, Honey,” Mom said.  “We still have to live, even if we don’t have much money right now.  The party won’t cost that much if we’re careful.”  I must have looked worried, because Mom quickly said; “We can make our own pizzas instead of ordering out.  And Dad can make your cake rather than buy it at the store.  The party will still be great.  Don’t worry so much.”  I gave Mom a big hug and then ran to my backpack to uncover my hidden list of friends.  I think Mom was a little surprised that I already had 15 friends listed, but we made invitations and I passed them out at school the next morning.
    Most of the girls were in my class, but a few from our neighborhood were on different tracks, so I had to find them at lunch or recess.  By the end of the day, my party was the hottest thing going on, except for Halloween, of course.

Celebrity Obsession Depression

Remember about all those things that I was mostly happy about? Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to write a sad post about how my life is going, because I thought it may be something that you might want to learn about. I go to church every Sunday at the LDS church. I've been causing a lot of sins that I confessed with my Bishop and I've been feeling like that my life is going in turmoil because I've been acting like a total jerk lately. I've been depressed and that I never thought that good things could lead to bad things. There is one thing that I have. I have Celebrity Obsession Depression. I thought it was fun to have an obsession with celebrities, like these four different albums from every favorite artist and band. Whenever I tell my family about how exciting celebrities are, like One Direction, Owl City, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber, they all say that they don't care. Whenever they tell me things like that, it makes me feel really guilty about myself and that I thought everyone was mocking me about my personality. I had a talk with my mom from Twelve Makes a Dozen that she's been telling me that thinking about fame and wanting to be like them someday, is just going to lead to some serious consequences, and that wanting to meet a celebrity is not that important. She also told me that celebrities are too cool to be able to have a minute with some fans and that they are being way jerky. She told me that the only things that I would have to be obsessed with is my family and the future goals that I would be doing. I told her that my future goal was to meet my favorite celebrity someday, and she denied that, that she thinks that I can do anything else, except that. All of my life, I've been watching movies all the time and for singing along to a bunch of songs from either bands, artists, or soundtracks from movies. Whenever I've been doing that, it made me feel like that I wanted to be famous just like those singers and actors on stage or in the movies. It makes me feel a bit sad that my mom said that being famous is not going to make my life better and thinking about celebrities more than my family is not going to make my life better either. I guess that I will have to move on in life and just delete all of my favorite songs from each favorite band and artist and then move on into life. Another thing that I feel mostly depressed about is that whenever I see a bunch of girls around that aren't related to me, I've been assuming that every girl already has a boyfriend and that they're married. I guess that I would call that Girlfriend Depression, meaning that I don't have a girlfriend and that no girl would want me, because I'm not that popular or attractive like other guys are. So, after I discussed with my Mom about my Celebrity Obsession Depression, I then wrote a sad letter to my sister Teach that went on her LDS mission to Fort Worth, Texas. I've been telling her a lot of things that have made me depressed and that it got me into a Lost State that I feel that my future is never going to be a great thing. Maybe I'll think of some ways on how I can be happy again. Have you had an depressions like the ones I have, if you have, then I understand.

Is it okay?

I'm not really sure about what I should write on this, but I thought I could tell you a story from the Boy Scout novels I thought about ever since I finished my goal, but my Mom told me that she has a bad feeling that people who are dishonest while looking at my blog, might steal my ideas. So I might as well ask if that might be okay if I ever told a story that I plan to write about when I think of ideas? I was a bit jealous to see that my Mom got to write her story on her blog called Kiylee's Christmas (there's a lot of posts for each chapter she wrote, so you may have a chance to going through all the posts that say chapters 1-14). I wish that I could tell you a story, but I might as well make sure my Mom says that it would be okay, as long as there isn't anybody dishonest that would want to steal my ideas,

A Wish to be Famous

I'm just not sure that I would be writing this post, but there have been some dreams that I wish that they would come true, but with my family and my home, it makes it seem that some of them won't be coming to past. Besides being a Boy Scout who earned 132 merit badges, and graduating from high school, I always wanted to do something more. I have always wanted to be famous, like be in the movies, sing and dance in music videos, meet celebrities while being famous, be in commercials, and do interviews on celebrity shows, like Ellen DeGeneres. After watching my favorite Disney movies and singing along to my favorite bands and music artists, it makes me feel like that I want to be like them.

Unfortunately, there's just one problem. My mom and dad kept telling me that being famous isn't really good for you, even though it looks like fun. They told me some things of what it's really like to be a celebrity. They told me that you would never be able to rest, and you would have to sign a lot of autographs to fans, you never get to see your family very often and you'd have to be in disguise if you were going to a restaurant so no one would recognize you And the biggest problem is, is that being famous doesn't make enough money.

Steve and Lisa James Return to Christmas

Even though that my parents keep saying that being famous is bad for you, we have some neighbors that are kind of famous, along with making a Christmas album a few years ago, called Return to Christams Their names are Lisa and Steve James. They love to play music and they like to do a family choir with their children. And speaking of their children there's this special edited music video about Taylor Swift's song Safe and Sound. This one shows their daughter named Alyssa James singing the song, while her brother and cousin are playing their guitars.

I know how my parents feel about what could happen to me if I accept being famous. They sometimes might say, "Dog Walker, if you choose to be famous, you're going to be having the wrong message!" I guess that I have to just move on and think of other things, like getting school done, be on a mission, and then find a girl to be married too. Have any of you felt like you've always wanted to be famous, but then your family member kept telling you it's a bad idea? If you have, than I understand about that.

My First Public Job

I would like to make a very quick post to let you know of what happened just this week. I've been trying to find a new job for me to work at and earn money for months. And then, I found a good place to work at and I just got hired for it. I am working at Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. I'm not hired to be a cashier. I was hired to work as a Graveyard Stocker. That means that I get eight hours to work at Wal-Mart at night time from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. I know you think that sounds crazy, but that will be my shift. I hoping that I'll be able to enjoy the job. One thing that I like to say is that I've learned this lesson, that having nothing but fun, really isn't all that fun. It's why we can have those two activities, fun and work. You wouldn't want to do either of them too much. Just do them equally. Hopefully this will be a fun job.

School House Rock

I just want to make it a quick post before the end of February is over. You know that right now, I just want to feel well educated. So if you want to be well educated from my blog. Here are some fun School House Rock songs that are really fun to learn and sing about. So enjoy the songs for the end of February.