This Christmas I was invited to Chicago, by Aaron and TJ. TJ is Jack’s (my mother’s husband) daughter and I have met them in the past. So, Friday, I flew out of Bangor, Maine. I packed only one suit case full of cloths and gifts and had my high school backpack as a carry on. I got up at 6:30 in the morning, before the sun had rose, Chris, my neighbor gave me a ride to Bangor International Airport. BIA is a small airport, but was actually quit full, due to Christmas only two days away. I got on the plane and could not look out the window like I normally do due to overcast, so, I took out a new book, Left Behind (the first book) and started to read it. I could not help but think as I was reading it that, What if Christ came back at this very moment as I’m reading this book, and only my cloths and book were left in my seat, and the person beside me happened to pick up the book and have the answers right in her hand, assuming she was not saved.

After an hour and half, I arrived at Detroit, Michigan. The airport is enormous! I read that it is a major airport and I quickly found out that the statement was true. I arrived in the “A” section for the airport and needed to get to the “B” section, which was probably a half of mile from where I was. I quickly headed down the moving walkway, which is very neat, and descended down a flight of escalators which brought me into a tunnel under one of the runways. The tunnel was illuminated with black lights which made the jog a little more pleasant. The airport also had an Amtrak, trees and birds inside. After 10 minutes of traversing through the airport, I made it to my destination and got on the jet. I arrived to O’Hare an hour later. O’Hare is very large though I was not as impressed as I was with Detroit. After finding my way to the security gate, mom greeted me and we were off to the luggage area and than to the car. The drive from O’Hare to Oswego, a suburb of Chicago took almost an hour due to heavy traffic. We stopped at Boston Market and had a bite to eat; sales tax is 9% which is pretty high compared to Maine’s 5%. After, we headed towards their housing development, which I must say is very impressive. It was good to see Aaron and his family again. Their kids are great; I had a really good time with them. I think that spending time with them has changed my mind about having children of my own, with the right woman of course That night mom, Aaron, Josiah and I went to see “The Chronicles of Narnia”, We all really enjoyed the movie.

Saturday, we headed towards the city. The weather was overcast and a little rainy, but we still walked the streets. We walked down Miracle Mile, Marshal Fields and Sears Tower. Marshal Fields has a restaurant called “The Walnut Room”, which is supposed to be a really nice place to eat, but the wait time was 3 hours- we decided to leave and eat at the Navy Pier which was interesting, it was a Jazz club, although the musicians were not playing. The Sears Tower was really interesting to see. We watched a five minute video on Chicago’s history and than headed up to the top of the building. When we got up to the top we were not so pleasantly surprised at the zero visibility. If you pressed your face to the glass you could see down to the bottom. Chicago is nice, but its way too busy and parking is extremely expensive to park! I like the suburbs of Chicago more. That night we attended a Christmas service at their local church.

Sunday, which was Christmas, we got up early, due to the kids. We started out by reading the Christmas event and asked the kids questions about Christ’s birth. It’s such a nice feeling to hear kids answer the questions and be excited about Jesus. Shortly after we all opened our stalkings and presents. Mom and Jack got me some really nice gifts. One of my favorites is a hand carved wooden duck and a recipe book named “A man, a can, a plan”. We spent the day hanging around the house playing with our gifts, talking, etc. I called Dad and wished him a Merry Christmas.

Monday, Aaron and I went to see “King Kong” by Peter Jackson. What an amazing movie! I was a bit upset that Kong died in the end; I had never seen the original movie or the other iterations.

Tuesday marked the end of my visit and I headed home to Bangor, Maine. I already miss everyone, especially my Mom. I am looking for a job in Lynchburg, Virginia. I have been for a few months now, I really like that area, and it’s not too far from Mom.

I’d just like to say Merry Christmas to everyone out there. I hope your Christmas is going well for you. I would also like to say Happy Birthday for the reason of Christmas, Jesus Christ, God come in the flesh.

My Dad and Karen visited me yesterday. We cooked a dinner, nothing fancy, just a simple chicken, potatoes and squash dinner, after we exchanged gifts. Dad wanted to try to play Call of Duty 2 on my Xbox 360, the last game he played was when the NES system first came out 10+ years ago. He had a good time, but needed a little more time to get used to the analog controller sticks. After, we talked for awhile and than left for the night.

Today, I went to Church and than headed to Dexter and had lunch at my grandparents. I took a few photos of their tiger cat that has hind legs that resembles a rabbit. After, we headed to Ripley to my Aunt Sandy’s camp that is on Ripley Pond. Every year each of the family members hosts a Christmas party at their home. We had a good time playing Yankee Swap and talking to each other. After a few hours I headed home for the night.

Yes, I finally have been able to purchase one. I hope you enjoy the story of how I was able to get one.

One of my friends from work called me Monday night stating that he has a friend that works over-night at the local Bangor Target and says that four Xbox 360’s are coming in that night and will be sold the next morning. I was very excited at the news since I have wanted the 360 since its conception, the console has been immensely popular and sold out EVERYWHERE in the US.

So, this morning I got up and got ready a little faster than I normally do and headed towards Target which is 1 mile from my apartment. I arrived at 7am and saw there were two girls waiting in a car; I backed into a parking space and waited for 30 minutes until 3 other people arrived. I decided that I should start a line to ensure that I would secure a 360. Shortly after I formed a line the others got behind me and one of the managers popped his head outside the door and asked if we were there for the Xbox 360, we all said yes and he said that you four will be getting one, I was ecstatic. He brought the consoles to the checkout lane and let the four of us in. Shortly after I left the scene with a 360 clutched in my freezing hands and headed off to my apartment. I had to work, so I left it in my apartment.

I got home from work and had to do a little Christmas shopping. I spent the $100 I got for working on someone’s computer. Two hours later I got home and was finally ready to get the Xbox 360 hooked up to my HDTV. From the moment I hit to power button on my wireless controller until I got into a game, I was amazed at how everything looked in 720p HD. The menu system is beautiful and full of options. I spent some time playing with the settings and downloading movie trailers from Xbox Live Market Place. I watch the Narnia trailer in HD and in surround sound.

I first played Project Gothem Racing 3 and was amazed at how nice the game looked and played. I also played Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero and Call of Duty 2, which by far is my favorite. The CoD series is filled with so much history and emotion and action. Tomorrow night I will be transferring some of my music to the console via CD and via my Windows XP computer. If you are interested in seeing my “Gamer Card” (it holds all of my game stats and tracks everything I do), click on the ABOUT link at the top of this page.