• wow, this is gonna be a major catchup entry, just fyi, so yeah. just so you know ahead of time.

just spent time checking e-mail and reading all the lj entries i missed. *yum, gerry* and reading what everyone got for christmas. so thats what i will do now.

WHAT I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS! *shortened*

From Santy

• a standing jewelry box, with a necklace and two bracelets inside it, and a fanny pack.

Stocking

• A pound of See's Candy
• Dove Chocolate Pieces
• A bag of Lindor Truffles
• eye shadow *green, blue, and purple*
• Two little books *You Know You're a Dancer When... and Dance is the Aire We Breathe, which is a book of dance quotes*
• Ballet Playing Cards
• black stirrup tights
• A Quarter
• and a bunch of other little things like that

From Rebecca

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory DVD
• A bag of Truffles
• an italian charm that says Sisters are 4Ever

From Eric

• The POTO Companion

From Grandparents

• Gramma Kay and Poppop: $100 check

From Parents

• 16 books. The Phantom of Paris. Progeny *phantom related* The Phantom of Manhatten. Portraits: Dancing Through Flames *based on Degas Dancers* Journey of the Mask. The Complete POTO. Eldest. Hard cover Phantom by Susan Kay. Timeline. Mairelon the Magician. The Magician's Ward. Wicked. Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide. The Penultimate Peril *12th book of A Series of Unfortunate Events, second to last book, yay!* and Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carlson Levine. yay. and Beowulf. (grand total of 19 books, counting the one Eric gave me and the two in my stocking)
• A pillowcase with Gerry on it, that says "Dream With Me Tonite". yes, Tonite was spelled like that.
• the black shoes that say dance all over them from discount dance.
• a new black leo.
• DVDs. Foot loose. Dirty Dancing. Flashdance. Phantom of the Paradise *one of the more odder movies i've seen, but it was almost three in the morning when heather and i watched it* Dracula 2000 *swoon* Mrs. Brown *faint* Dear Frankie *sob from happiness* and Timeline *drool* yes, those last four have Gerry in them. yay.
• Rent Soundtrack.
• NEW LUGGAGE! Burgandy colored Three Piece luggage set. for cali. yay moi.

From Nana

• a whole bunch of cute stuff that i love her for giving me, but cant remember at the moment.
• a bag of Lindor Truffles
• a Symphony Bar
• a little Degas Make-up bag.

and then some more odds and ends.

so christmas was wonderful. i started *and finished* the phantom of paris, and then started Progeny after that. *excellent book, finished it on the plane trip down to cali*

the next day was spent packing up for California. this included all my dance costumes, clothes for walking around in Disneyland, make-up, toiletries, and free-time things such as books, music, and cards. amazingly, i got everything put into the three bags. and my fanny pack. so i had my big one checked in, and then i carried my two smaller ones on with me, considering that the medium sized roller contained my costumes, and i didnt want those to get lost, and the small held my toiletries AND my cd's and books i brought and all that stuff. and my notebooks. heh. so that was amazing. the evening of the 26, Heather came over to spend the night, cuz her parents had already left to drive down to cali, and then we stayed up until three thirty cuz that's when we would be woken up anyways so we could catch our plane. but shh...if anyone asks, we slept. lol. so thats when we watched dracula 2000 and the Phantom of the Paradise. and read progeny. and worked on our stories. and stuff.

and then we turned out the lights and pretended to be asleep just in time. cuz mom came in two minutes later to wake us up.

so then we caught our plane, during which i finished Progeny *such a good book. **de ja bloody vu, already said that** twist at the end, totally caught me off gaurd. if i hadnt been on the plane, i would've cried* and then i started the Phantom of Manhatten. then we "checked" into our hotel, then went over to Disneyland to look at the stage, and then we rode rides. Thunder, Heather, and I went with Carla and her family, and that was fun. then we went to the hotel and had a meeting in the lobby about the next day.

Next Day: WE PERFORMED AT DISNEYLAND! it was AMAZING! bobpop was there to watch. his first time seeing me dance live. and same for my Aunt Tina. Carla loves her now. she told me that my aunt is a lovely person. so, that makes me happy, cuz my parents say i am a lot like her. but back to the performance. OMG! it was SO FREAKING AWESOME! we got to go BACKSTAGE DISNEYLAND! but it was steel and concrete, so i had these mixed emotions. i was freaking out because i was backstage, but a small part of me was thinking, now that i've seen backstage, i know that all Disneyland is is just...a theme park. but then the performer won and i was just excited to be backstage. we went into the dressing room and got changed into our costumes *we had to look normal entering the park, save for the fact we were all wearing our hair in buns* and then we had our pic taken, and then we got to go INTO THE PARADE REHEARSAL ROOM! they had mirrors that touched the floor *but no the ceiling, cuz the ceiling was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay way high* and there weren't any gaps between them either. and it was HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE! take like....20 of Carla's studio, and you'll have a vague idea of how big the Parade Hall is. and then, we were lead all the way from the backstage of toon town to like, the left side of the castle, all backstage. at one point, we had to cross frontierland at the gate of it, and we were in our bathrobes for our opening number, so that was quite amusing. everyone was staring at us. and then, we performed! we had the official "Disneyland Announcer Voice" and it just went by so quickly. all the parents, and Carla, and Carla's mom, were crying, and ppl who didn't even "know" us were filming us. and then we got free t-shirts, the sign that announced us as well, and a special plaque for performing at Disneyland. so then i spent the day with my family, and then met up with Michelle, Kira, and Nicolle and we went on Space Mountain.

Yesterday: spent the whole day, from 10ish to closing with Heather and Thunder. we went on Indiana Jones, and then Jungle Cruise again, and the Storybook Land Canal, and then we watched the parade while eating Pineapple ice cream using Churros as Spoons, which was de-lish! and then we went to Cali Adventure, and we were acting like we worked there, and had this whole conversation about working at Disneyland, and what characters we would be the next day, and saying how grateful we were at having half a day off, and all that jazz, and so the ppl in line would be looking at us funny. such imagination we have. and we rode California Screamin' five times in a row. for a grand total of 7 times this trip. and we had nachos. and fruit. and a 1.5 liter of water *snort* and then we watch Aladdin, the Musical at the Hyperion Theatre, and we were in the Balcony in the second row in the middle. excellent seats. so magical. and then i bought a Captain Hook hat, and had them embroider Captain Kat on it. and i'm wearing it right now.

Today: Went to Downtown Disney, cuz you don't need a ticket to go into it. bought a Chesire Cat Sweatshirt, a 50th Anniversary t-shirt with the castle on it, and two photo albums *one for me, one for becca-boo*. $114 dollars for it all. crazy, huh? then Thunder, Heather, and I had lunch at the Rainforets Cafe with Heather's rents, and got awesome Lightening cups! which, we get to keep, but Annette and Griz have them, becuz Thunder, Heather, and I left earlyish to get a head start on shopping at The World of Disney so i could purchase aforesaid mentioned things. so they have them, and they have to give Thunder and me mine. and then we said good-bye to Heather, cuz she is staying with her parents in california and her aunt and uncle for new years, and so then Thunder and I looked at a couple of stores, and then we had to go back to the hotel to get our luggage and get back home.

and now i'm home.

and it all feels like a dream. it's like it never happened.

well, tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and mom and dad and becca-boo fly home tomorrow, and Scott and Cindy are coming over. so, i'm gonna go to bed, and sleep in, and no one is gonna wake me up, except for my alarm clock set for 11:45.

G'nite, and sweet dreams!

lots of love,
Katherine