Saturday, December 30th, 2017 – The Arrival
Saturday morning, my family and I got our bags (and Christmas gifts) together and waited for my aunt to come pick us up. Nobody in my family that was going knows how to drive (and hopefully that changes this summer) so we usually have to get picked up by another family member in order to go to other states. I was really excited to go to Pennsylvania to see my extended family for New Years because we never rang in a new year with my mother’s side of the family. I was also very excited to get up and out of the city and enjoy a Pennsylvania winter where there’s going to be snow on the ground until possibly the middle of April. We left New York around noon and we were on the road for about 2 and a half hours. I know.
We finally got to my grandparents’ house around 2:30 in the afternoon and my god was there so much snow on the ground. It was also freezing because they do live in what is considered “the mountains” so it just felt like my breath was constantly being taken away from me. It was bad. We all ran inside, got settled in, and at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, we had dinner. I know.
Because we don’t see each other before or even on Christmas, we typically do Christmas in January to celebrate Christmas, my cousin’s birthday which is in December and my birthday which is in January. This year, we did all of that while up in PA for the weekend. We all opened our gifts around my grandparents’ little Christmas Tree. It’s funny how many of the things we all got were really warm pieces of clothing because we all expected that we could use it while we were up there; I got a heavy blanket, a heavy sweater, heavy pajamas, heavy socks, pretty much heavy everything. I also got a couple of things from Bath & Body Works, a pair of really nice jeans, and a couple of gift cards which definitely came in handy. Then my grandparents gave me my birthday gift, and it was this beautiful navy blue coat.
After opening gifts, we got the table ready to have dessert, which meant it was time for birthday cake. My grandmother made an all chocolate cake with a green cream cheese frosting and sprinkles. She also made some chocolate cream pie which was crazy because my mother forgot to make one for Christmas, so I was really happy for that. All in all, it was great to spend birthdays and holidays and celebrate them all with my extended family.
Later in the night, we all went and watched a couple of holiday movies that my grandmother recommended us to watch. One of them was good, but it began to get extremely awkward when my teenaged cousins (both boys) began to make inappropriate jokes about one of the movies, and honestly, it killed my vibe a lot. But other than that, we spent the night hanging out, eating a lot, and catching up.
Sunday, December 31st, 2017 – New Year’s Eve
The first full day being in Pennsylvania and honestly, by the time it was over, I was completely over being up there. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, but as I get older I began to realize just how much I can actually handle them, and a day and a half is pretty much my limit. NYE always feels like the longest day of the year because you anticipate the new year coming and all of that, but NYE in Pennsylvania was brutally slow. At the start of the day, it was fun; my sister and I took pictures out in the snow because we’re two basic NYC bitches that don’t get to see snow like this. Despite it being frozen the first 5 minutes being outside, we managed to get some pretty nice snow pictures:
After we came in and defrosted from the outside cold, we had some lunch, Megan went to take a nap and I went to color in some adult coloring books in the dining room. Because my grandparents live in the countryside, there’s no cell service and no wifi either. I mean, my grandparents are pretty old, and they don’t want to invest in getting some wifi even though everyone says they should. Because of that, it’s very easy to get bored up there. What I do to pass some time is definitely do some coloring. Coloring passes about 1 to 2 hours, and then I would probably just go and hang with my sister.
As the night came and we all went to eat dinner and dessert (it’s a ritual to do both literally one another the other together), it was time to bring out the snacks and stuff in preparation for the new year. My grandparents were too tired o stay up until midnight to ring in the new year, but my family and my aunt’s family managed to stay up until the new year came in. My aunt’s family is… unique. Needless to say that something happened, and the family was divided for most of the night; my sister and I were with my mother, and they were in the kitchen playing cards. Because of the little things that began to add up across the weekend, my family was pretty much over everything and were ready to go to sleep and head back to Brooklyn the next morning. In some context, my mother’s side of the family does not live in New York and they live comfortably. My actual family does not. We also live in a city of diversity, so we don’t have any opinions on other types of people. These people, although my family, sometimes literally get me sick because of their one-minded perfect world lives. Like, I get it, you work hard for what you have and you’re doing great at it, but not everyone is as fortunate as you and not everyone is like you. There are different types of people in the world and it just makes you look ignorant if you don’t acknowledge that it does. Because of feeling like this and many other personal things, I got a little bit upset once the new year was here. I expected the night to be more than it really was. I guess I wanted to feel like I was ringing in the new year with positivity and love, and I didn’t feel it. It was there, but then it wasn’t. I went to bed telling myself that I would’ve rather been back in NYC with my partner, ringing in the new year with him and having a fun time.
But I digress and I am still thankful that I was around family ringing in the new year.
Monday, January 1st, 2018 – The Departure
Despite going to sleep at around 1 in the morning, my family and I had to be up and ready to head back into the city by 11 in the morning. We packed up our things, ate some breakfast, and allowed everyone to do their thing before we headed out on the road. In the meantime, I spent my time waiting in my room, hanging out with my grandparents’ dog, Foxy.
We said our goodbyes and headed on the road back to the city. I was completely exhausted from the night before that I don’t even remember much of the ride because I fell asleep through most of it. We got back to NYC around 2:30 in the afternoon, and that was that. I did enjoy my time up in Pennsylvania. My family and usually get to go up there doing the summer once a year, so it was great to have been up there during the winter time. When I was younger, my family and I went to Pennsylvania a lot of the times, especially during the winter time for Thanksgiving. Some of my favorite Pennsylvania memories come from those times. I’ve met some family I never met before, my step-cousin, Cara, and I used to put shows together for my family to come and see, all of the kids would go upstairs and blast music in the biggest room of the house and throw dance parties. It used to be extremely fun being up there and maybe it’s because we’re all older that we don’t get to do fun things like that around the house, but other than that, I do enjoy getting away from the city once and a while to just be around quietness and peace. All in all, I enjoyed my time there. Winters in PA are cool, but they don’t compare to the Summers up there. Hopefully, there’ll be a summer edition to this diary later on this year; we’ll see!
-Liz. (:
Letters From Liz. 