I still want a hula hoop.

Hello. I enjoyed Christmas.

I loved spending time with family and remembering what Christmas is all about... dressing up crazy, opening presents, playing games, watching basketball, sleeping, eating food, and laughing.

Okay okay. That's not what Christmas is all about. In case you are wondering what it is all about go here... But I am going to share some of my favorite Christmas moments of this year.

My dad called me a player with a dirty mind. I love my family.

Five hours of card playing. Coming in second place every game except for the last one. That last one was a sweet victory. WINNER!

My crazy Christmas morning hair!

Listening to Andrea Bocelli's Christmas CD like 5 times in a row. After a while our DVD player switched the discs and we were all in the other room but we could hear the disc menu music so we made it a competition to see who could guess the movie from the music. We were all wrong.

Making up the word pretendency. (It kinda sums up my personality).

My dad wearing head to toe camo all day.

Reading the Luke 2 with my niece's cute nativity set. (Growing up, my little sister Hannah and I were in charge of  "acting out" the story using the nativity people. For some reason one year we had a chocolate nativity set. I ate the angel... Does that make me a bad person?)

Wearing reindeer footie pajamas all day long.

Eating halves of every kind of cookie and leaving them for people to find and enjoy.

All the kids sleeping in the basement together. My loudly snoring brother. (I thought he was dying).

When my mom handed out our Christmas Eve present (pajamas) and my dad had two boxes because she couldn't remember which one was for Christmas Eve. My dad opened the first one and much to his surprise it was a purple ruffled night gown. Haha. We died. "That's where my pajamas went!" Classic mislabeling.

Going to church on Christmas (I changed out of my footie pajamas... don't you worry).

My dad wearing a pink bobby pin in his hair during cards because I told him it would bring him good luck. Yeah he took it out as soon as he lost the first round.

Me and mom shamelessly failing at Partner Hand and Foot.

Singing my dad's favorite Christmas song, "Silver Bells" together.

Creating a new card game called "Draw the Joker" (or "Drug the Joker"). It's gonna be amazing!

Our Christmas morning lesson. We all got a magnifying glass and a mirror. My mom talked about how too often we look at the people around us with a magnifying glass, noticing their every flaw. But we should really be looking at ourselves with a mirror. How can we be better.

When my nephew got a huge cardboard cutout of Darth Vader. He squealed. Love that boy.

Answering trivia questions for an hour as a family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was such an amazing day. I love my family. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ.


PS- If you didn't get the song reference in my title. You need to listen to this song.

Don't forget Winona.

Hello. My name is Winona. Yes. You read this right... Winona. Every time I introduce myself to someone new, their responses follow a similar pattern. "Wait what was that again?" Winona. I am called Winona. "Oh that is a really beautiful name. Were you named after someone?" Yes. My grandma. (If I am feeling particularly conceited I will tell them the long version... I was named after my grandma. She was named after a girl on my great grandpa's mission. My great grandpa served an LDS mission on a Sioux Indian reservation. This girl was in one of the families he taught). "I have never met anyone named Winona. What does it mean?" It means first born daughter. "Are you a first born daughter?" Well kinda... usually at this point I am done being the awkward center of attention so I find some way to stop talking about myself. My name provides me with a natural ice breaker where people can't see too much of my awkward too fast and run away, but just enough to make an impression. And since I have to repeat my name 56 times until people understand what I am saying to them they tend to remember it.

I will admit that there are a few downfalls... There are the times when people don't ask for me to repeat my name and they just nod and move on to the next question. That is when I start to hear the variations of my name. The most common variation is when people pronounce my name "WHY-nona." Which I do find comical but... my name is in fact pronounced wi-NO-na. (It helps if you say it in a British accent). I also have had people remember my name as "Willa" or "Winooney." Amazing. I know.


The majority of people I meet have never heard of my name. (Here is a song that most people know that says my name and you probably never even noticed). But I do get a lot of the country singer comments, shoplifting comments and the occasional I served my mission in Winona-- Missouri, Texas, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Indiana, or Kansas. I feel so blessed to be named after my grandma Winona. She died a few years before I was born, and I am glad to be the one bearing her name in remembrance.

"Whats in a name? that which we call a rose 

By any other name would smell as sweet."

I don't know if I agree with you dear old bill. I'm pretty sure you had it wrong. I definitely wouldn't be as sweet or interesting if my name wasn't Winona.

98.

1.I like you.
2.I like strawberry milk.
3.I can teach you a penguin dance. And you will like it.
4.This one time I stuck bologna to my belly.
5.I love all kinds of music.
6.I named my hamster Twoee and he was beautiful...until he died. Or my dog ate him.
7.Cool people wear no pants.
8.I am amazing at percussion and all things percussive.
9.I tell lies for fun.
10.I hate mushrooms.
11.I am scared of the mini-door under my stairs....Actually I am scared of what could be inside.
12.The 21st is the best day of any month. I have a club...you can join if you want.
13.I have 7 nieces and nephews and 7 siblings.
14.I am awesome.
15.I love NPR.
16.I have a flowy name.
17.My mom knows things about random stuff and I ask her about it randomly.
18.Me and Aimee make a perfect person.
19.I can have fun doing anything.
20.I really like the color purple. And/or pink.
21.I enjoy a good non-fiction book.
22.I enjoy James Dean.
23.I have a car and I can drive it, almost professionally.
24.I have a new basketball and his name is the Former Theodore and he is pink.
25.I taught myself how to read music.
26.I wish I could open the door by my apartment from the outside.
27.I have a testimony.
28.My family and friends are the most amazing.
29.I am addicted to my cell phone.
30.I enjoy witty conversation and people.
31.One day I will go to Greece.
32.I like Dolphins. The ones in the ocean, the bush kind in Newport Beach, and the ones Misha Barton talks about.
33.I love Andre the seal. And alligator.
34.I have pink boots.
35.I am super organized and I have OCD.
36.I wish I was the pink power ranger.
37.I like to think and over-analyze.
38.I am really really good at sleeping.
39.I like salt-sa, chips and horchata.
40.Ultimate spoons gives me bruises.
41.Cafe Rio could bring joy to anyones life.
42.My name starts with W.
43.I am my parents favorite child.
44.I have not read the last Harry Potter. I will someday... when I learn to love to read.
45.Music is basically my life
46.I am 19.
47.Gilbert Blithe is the answer.
48.I could shop for the rest of my life.
49.I didn't knock over your snowman, in case you were wondering.
50.I am good at Music Theory.
51.I make my bed everyday. It has flowers and buckets on it.
52.I am kinda short.
53.I tutor elementary kids. So I am amazing at 3rd grade math...if you ever have any questions.
54.I have a pink tree.
55.I like to meditate.
56.I secretly love red juice lips.
57.I played lacrosse for six years.
58.I love temples.
59.Andy Warhol is amazing.
60.I like to play the piano.
61.Soy milk is delicious.
62.I like my hair.
63.I don't stress.
64.I have three cups. But I do not sleep with them.
65.I wish banks would give out a better box of cereal than Chex.
66.I am the queen of Emotional Tuesdays.
67.I don't know how to snort and Kendra doesn't teach her ways.
68.I am a peer mentor.
69.I love lunchables.
70.Dance parties are the bestest.
71.I perform better in math with heavy metal music playing. I also ruined these people's survey.
72.I don't listen to heavy metal music.
73.I went to New York once and it was awesome.
74.I check my email like 400 times a day.
75.I love camping and fishing.
76.I can do the Chester Challenge.
77.I throw pencils at people and pretend to punch them.
78.I don't have secrets. But I can keep them. Haha.
79.I like doing laundry, but I hate quarters.
80.I like to play Ultimate Frisbee in the rain.
81.My favorite ice cream is cake batter with cookie dough.
82.I am a self-professed narcissist. But not as bad as someone I know...
83.I have a treasure box.
84.I could be the most laid-back person ever.
85.This list is obviously a clue to how messed up and random my head is.
86.My backpack is like a comfort blanket.
87.If your hands are cold put them in your text book.
88.I sing the words DJ's girl.
89.October means Chinese food.
90.Your face is scandalous.
91.My dad was Smokey the Bear once.
92.I like dippy bread.
93.I am making a lasagna...for one.
94.I can't open doors.
95.What do devils, bears and lips have in common?
96.The combination of a tongue trill and a weird throaty thing makes a mating call.
97.The end.
98.I still like you.