Since the day I left the resort, I struggled to decide just how I really felt about all that happened this summer. Today, I finally came to a conclusion.

After hanging out with some resort friends this evening, I found myself on the ZPR Facebook page. I began looking through photos of this season and came across this one of me working a dutch oven with Dave.



I made it through a lot with Dave. When things got heated (and we all know just how heated they could get) in the kitchen, Dave and I pushed through together. I remember the day Dave first started. I was given a brief background of him, basically that he had been living homeless in Vegas and was now coming to work for us. For the first few weeks, I was extremely critical of him in my mind. As I got to know him, Dave became one of my most loyal workers and a friend. I told him he could not leave and that we had to stick together. Then, when Dave was in the hospital getting his chest tested for a possible recurrence of cancer, he told Frances to make sure to tell me that he would be back and that he wasn't going anywhere. Dave never left.

I met a lot of other people this summer. Though admittedly I was often a very grumpy and tired person, I am grateful for everyone who got to know me and who invited me to go on hikes and play volleyball and canyoneer and go to movies. I had little free time but you all helped me make the most of it.

I took the job with nothing but selfish ambitions. I gave no thought to who I might meet or how my life might be influenced by them. I just wanted to become a chef. Looking back, I'm glad I took that job. The job itself was a living Hell, parts of which I hope I never have to relive, but the experiences I gained outside of the kitchen are what I will always remember. Those hikes and games and movies stand out far above the tense moments at work and I'm sitting here in Logan, absolutely thrilled with the prospects that lie ahead for me, because of you all. That picture of Dave and I will always remind me of the surprises you never expect. This summer wasn't about me, it was about all of us.

I would like to add that I learned tons in the kitchen and grew tremendously there as well, which is what ultimately solidified my future far north in Logan...

This was certainly not the typical Christmas for me. In the past, we've had a Christmas Eve feast on, well, Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day we open presents, play with presents and chill all day. Breakfast on Christmas is the mini box of cereal from our stocking and lunch and dinner are leftovers or sandwiches.

This year, I stuffed my face at 3 different buffets. Christmas Eve we went over to Aunt Di's for a meal that included shrimp, prime rib, fruit, veggies, mushrooms, ham and more. Christmas morning we had cereal, went to church, then set off on an adventuresome day that took us to the east, west, north and south ends of the Salt Lake valley. We dropped off presents at Aunt Di's and visited briefly. Then we headed over to Uncle Rory's and dropped off presents. After that, we went to my cousin Heather's for a brunch buffet that had everything from ham to deviled eggs and chicken wings. A few hours later, we departed for another buffet at cousin Tiffany's. The trip began at 11 am and concluded around 5 pm, leaving us fully fed and plenty tired.

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you all I am disappointed that you all neglected my Santa list. Camilla did get me some black socks, but if not for my own psychic abilities, I would be without blue ones. I figured everyone would laugh at my request for socks, so before Christmas I bought a simple set of blue socks from my loathed adversary Wal-Mart. It's funny though, because the blue set I got was the exact same designs as the black pair Camilla got me, so when I walked in wearing the blue ones, she thought I had bought the same ones she had actually got me. Even funnier, as I would find out later, is that we were at Wal-Mart getting me deodorant, a cheap toothbrush and toothpaste (which I foolishly forgot), and I saw Monopoly for cheap. I was about to buy myself one when Camilla started giving me this "you have got to be kidding me" stare. I quickly realized I was about to spoil her Christmas gift, so I did not get Monopoly. Good thing she was there with me. Imagine her surprise if I had ruined BOTH the gifts she got for me.

On the topic of presents, here is what I got: a t-shirt about sarcasm from Amelia and Max (not sure why...), socks and Monopoly from Camilla, a little remote control stunt car from Grandma, money from the parents and Grandma, a lint roller, bubbles and lots of candy in my stocking, chocolates and a sausage and cheese package from that one company whose name escapes me right now and I'm too lazy to look it up, more chocolates from Heather, hopefully a Korean suit from Mike (but I'd settle for a Korean house maid), and that's all I remember right now.

On the giving side, I got the complete Hogan's Heroes series for the family, a very Camilla-esque bag (which she is already using and getting "that's so you" compliments on) for, you guessed it, Camilla, pocket knives for my 3 co-workers in the catering kitchen, a home-made gift basket for my date (just thought I'd mention it :) , and I showed my face on Skype for everyone else.

All in all, it was a good Christmas. Now that it is over though, I have a ton of stuff to do and lots of stress on my shoulders. Hopefully, within the week, I will sign a lease on an apartment, buy my sister's car, register my car, insure my car, work a couple busy, busy days (lots of weddings over the winter break in Logan), and hopefully throw a big New Year's party. I think I'm attending a Harry Potter marathon party too if I haven't already missed it.

Song of the Day reflects my busy schedule. It's "Takin' Care of Business" by: BTO.

Greetings and warm Christmas salutations to you all. I appreciate you taking the time to venture onto my blog during these busy times and I hope to make my message worthy of your time. Before I begin my message, I want to highlight our Song of the Day. The song is called "He is Born" sung by Vocal Point and it is perhaps my favorite Christmas song to listen to during the holidays. I hope you enjoy the song and my Christmas message to you wherever you may be on this holiday weekend.

Each Christmas, we hear the criticisms and complaints of Christmas becoming too corporate and commercialized. While it is fairly obvious that this season has become very focused on giving, receiving and maximizing profits on that exchanging of gifts, I do not believe that the spirit of Christmas has been, or ever will be, completely lost. I do believe, however, that it is becoming masked. Like a dense fog blanketing a peaceful valley, all of the glory and wonder of Christmas is still right where it used to be; we simply have to slow down, look close, and find it. Within that increasing shroud that seeks to hide Christmas, we find peaceful hymns that praise the birth of Christ. Looking beyond the price tags, we find a gentle gift that will enrich the life of a loved one. Peering down a street, we see decorations hung on houses and draped from trees; a sight that inspires wonder, awe, and joy. If our hearts are in the right place, we will always see the meaning of Christmas. The meaning of joy, and love; a celebration of Christ our Lord.

I hope you all enjoy the precious gifts, the time with family and friends, the music, the dance, the food, the smiles, and the love this Christmas as you celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Holy criminy, Christmas is on Sunday! My vacation technically has begun. Tomorrow, we are going in for a bit of cleaning at work and then going shooting. After that, I'm heading down to grandma's to enjoy some time off until I work again Tuesday morning. Then, Wednesday, me and my gang are prepping for New Year's with a trip to the Wyoming border. Then my last two days of work for the year on Thursday and Friday, and they will be super busy ones. Saturday, I'm off and will ring in 2012 with a big party complete with fireworks (OF COURSE!). Them is my plans. Oh, and hopefully we find a place to live today and I'll move at some point in the next week or two. I packed up a ton of stuff so I can be ready to go this time. Last move I made I dumped stuff I ended up needing because I wasn't prepared.

I'm super busy today running errands and seeing houses, so that's all you're getting today. Song of the Day is dad's second favorite Christmas song to sing (the first I'm assuming to be the stuck in the chimney one from the Christmas on the Ponderosa CD that I can't locate on playlist.com).

I have given it a lot of thought and I have decided to move. Just to a new apartment though. I really like the townhouse I'm living in, but there are a lot of things I would like to change and get away from, so, this week I am hopefully going to finalize a new place to live. Before all of you back home starting sighing and wondering what I'm thinking, let me put your minds at ease. I have been contemplating moving for some time, but it did not really seem right, so I stayed put. Then, yesterday, when I walked into my apartment, I had an experience that got me thinking about moving again. This time, though, I had reasons for wanting to move and it felt like it was time to do it. So far things have gone well. I have one friend who had not re-signed his contract for next semester, so he is available to room with me. Then, another friend might be able to once he finds out how much his financial aid will cover on his tuition. With good friends who share my values and I can trust living with me, I feel much more at peace with where I stand and where I'm going. I'm looking at a few places Wednesday and hopefully we can get things squared away this week. One thing is for absolute certain though: I will not be living here after the end of this month.

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a serious story to tell. Here it is. At the start of the summer, down at the resort, I was taking a nap between shifts. This particular day, I had an interesting dream. In the dream, it was winter and very cold out. There was ice on the ground and frost on the cars. I was standing by a car at a gas station, staring across the street at some buildings that were unfamiliar to me. In fact, the whole setting of the scene was unfamiliar to me. I just remember looking across at those buildings as cars drove by on a major road between me and the buildings. Well, last Tuesday, the 13th, I was on my way to deliver that wreath I had made. I was low on gas, so I stopped in at the 7-eleven by my house to put some fuel in. It was a frigid evening, and a small snowstorm that day had left the ground very icy. I swiped my card and began fueling up. As I waited, I looked across the street. Then it hit me. Usually in circumstances like that, I would say "Deja vu!" and freak out until the moment had passed. But this was no usual deja vu moment; this time, it was not an "I've been here before but don't know when" moment. This time, I became very calm as the exact memory of that day and that dream at the resort came back to me. In a way that would make Hollywood movie makers envious, I watched in complete awe as the dream and my present view synced up. The gas station was the same; it was the 7-eleven by my house. The car was the same; it was the car I got from my sister months after the dream. The buildings across the street were the same; they are the Cache Valley Shopping Mall. Everything was there, right down to the ice on the ground. It was a very powerful moment. Very powerful indeed.

Today, I would like to do a dedication song again. Everyone tells me I do not smile, but most people don't really try to make me. I admit my natural, at-rest face is not a wide smile. There are a few of those crazy people out there though who always give me a genuine smile and who do make me smile, even if it is only on the inside sometimes. Today, I want to dedicate our Song of the Day to one of those crazy smiling people. Katie Kapp, this one's for you, it's "Smile" by Uncle Kracker (whose real name is Matthew Shafer...if anyone cares).

The past few days have been fairly eventful. We were not quite as busy this week as we were last week at work. I still worked plenty of hours though.

Wednesday evening we pulled a great prank on our scroogey boss. As I mentioned, he dislikes all the Christmas hullabaloo, so, we managed to get him to go home early one evening and we Buddy the Elfed his office. We strung lights everywhere, had a little Christmas tree, tons of garland and wreaths and snowflakes and wrapping paper and pretty much covered literally every inch of the office with decorations. It was as close to what Buddy the Elf did in the movie Elf as we could get. It was awesome. When he came in for work the next morning, we awaited his reaction in the office. It was great. He walked in, we shouted, his face went stone cold, he turned around, walked out, and then after a few seconds he laughed. He then told us to take it all down. We managed to keep it up for a few days before it all had to come down. In it's place, however, I left a picture of the Grinch saying Merry Christmas.

Saturday we had our department party. That was pretty fun. We had a catered meal (this time not catered by us), got a gift, and I enjoyed having a few people think that I was married. They said I looked like I was the married type but then I showed up without a wife. I laughed, because generally I get the opposite remarks. Apparently though, people in catering thought I was married. The party was fun though and I enjoyed getting to talk to the servers more. Usually our conversations are: "Where is this food?" or "Can you help me find this?"

After the party, I went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes with some of the actually married folks of catering. It was a fun movie with lots of good laughs. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Work news aside, I have two other things for today. First up: politics.

I figured since I have a few faithful followers, I would do my part to get America working again. Next year, we will select a new president. It does not take much to realize that our current president has failed us. I believe that Barrack Obama is a good person with good intentions, but he was not ready to lead this nation and it shows severely. I am young myself, but even I see that President Obama is highly inexperienced for his position and it shows daily. There is, however, a man out there who's experiences in life have prepared him for the very situation our nation finds itself in today. That man is Mitt Romney. I have spent the entire primary election cycle following the candidates. I have studied their views, their ideas, and their policies. I have listened to all they have said and I firmly believe that Mitt is our best and only chance at defeating President Obama in the general election next year. And so, today, it is my pleasure to announce that the "News From the Colonel" blog officially endorses Mitt Romney for President of the United States.

The second thing was a serious story, but I'll save that for my next post and instead post a funny joke Annie told me:
How I learned to mind my own business: I was walking past a mental hospital the other day and all the patients were shouting "13! 13! 13!" The fence was too high to see over, but I saw a little gap in the planks, so I looked through to see what was going on. Some idiot poked me in the eye with a stick. As I walked away angry, I heard them all shouting "14! 14! 14!"

Songs of the Day: "White Christmas" sung by: The Drifters and "Feliz Navidad" sung by someone Hispanic I'm assuming, though they do not sound Hispanic...oh well.

I made a cool wreath today. We were invited to an appreciation lunch (which we catered) for a few departments that deserved appreciation from the president's wife for working with her and the president with all they do. Anyway, as part of the gathering, they had real, fresh wreaths and lots of decorations so we could decorate a wreath. A fresh wreath is a cool thing, and while it may have been neat to have one on my door, I wanted to make a fresh wreath that someone could brag about and be like, "Oh yeah, that's just our legit wreath..." So, I made a wreath and gifted it to a good friend, who I hope enjoys it and uses it to bring some Christmas joy to friends and family.

This evening I watched a Muppet Christmas Carol. I love the Muppets, always have, always will. I still need to see the new Muppet movie.

Today, I also want to set the record straight on the 12 days of Christmas. Contrary to popular belief, the real 12 days of Christmas do NOT start today, but the 12 days are known as Christmastide, and begin on Christmas Day and end on the evening of January 5th. As for the song...well, that can be confusing. Some say it originated in England, but others say there is evidence it came from France. Many believe the folk story about it. They say that it was a secret way of practicing Catholicism during the period where public or private practice of the religion was banned in England. Those who believe in this story say that each gift mentioned was a symbolic way of remembering and teaching religious ideals. According to this theory, these are the meanings of the gifts: