Just remind us to take a map next time, so we don't get quite as lost as we did.
I love my friends so freaking much, though.  We've hung out a lot, whether spontaneously meeting up for desert and a movie on the beloved beanbag, freaking each other out in the garage, wrestling/Nerfgun wars {I realized pitifully that I would die within the first minute of either being kidnapped or made a soldier}, listening to the boys use inside jokes as a way to start dying laughing about something apparently dirt, singing along to the Frozen soundtrack, watching movies like Mr. & Mrs. Smith,walking around the lovely temple lights, watching the ferociosity of a five-year-old {poor Bryan is never gonna live down getting nailed in the face-- literally, like, this kid scratched him and drew enough blood in this long line that the mark is still there & everyone who glances out of the corner of their eye thinks he has a bloody nose.  I tell him to make up some heroic story as a cover-up, but he's too modest.} Last Friday Bryan and I went out on a date with Lindsey and Cody biking around brightly-lit neighborhoods.  The colors were bold and holidayish and the air was crisp, freezing our knuckles and crystallizing our breath.  We stopped our bikes on the freeway overpass to watch the cars flying by, then sipped peppermint smoothies, sang as Jingle Bells as atrociously as we could on the top of our lungs since the whoosh of the traffic whisked the ugly sound away anyway, and went back to Bryan's house to huddle around the fireplace as Bryan almost lulled us to sleep with his gorgous piano skills and played a game of Life and massaged each other. 

 This month, we built a stage.  Actors Youth Theater opened up its own studio we plan on designing like the Venecian.  Even if I don't do quite as much acting as my siblings who participate in so many productions I literally {and I mean LITERALLY literally} can't keep track, the love of performance runs deep in my blood and it's been amazing seeing this all fall into place.  Adam did an eagle project the size of three-- impressing all-- by helping install seats and paint, among a million other things.  I'm proud. My mom's the president of the board too, so congrats to her.
I also can't forget the incredible experience I'm having with Fuse Performing Arts and their little Glee group Funkytown.  I'm the oldest one in the group, but I've never met a group of nicer, more welcoming and fun-loving kids.  We have a blast at every concert, and even if we're not the best group out there, it has been amazing putting together songs to sing and dance to.  I was honored to add a little candle to my cake of a Christmas season by having the choir back me up as I sang O Holy Night.