Feliz Navidad Alex!

I have a pretty awesome little sister. I just found out that she reads my blog so I thought I would do a little tribute. Her birthday (a day that she gloriously shares with Britney Spears) was a few weeks ago and I feel like I have new leaf to overturn. Before she turned 14 we were mortal enemies but nowadays the playing field has leveled and I can finally respect the fact that, at age 21, she is no longer annoying but actually pretty cool. I started to think of funny stories about her from our childhood to include in this tribute, and after a while I started to realize that you can pretty much chronicle her life by the different unique phases she went through. I then realized that they needed to be recorded for posterity; if I don’t, who will? I don’t remember the exact ages but these happened sequentially between ages 3 and 12. Now Alex may refute some of these stories and call them embellished and/or false. I would like to remind her that I have witnesses!
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· The Annie phase {This one included a daily living room performance of the song “Sandy”, complete with costumes.}

· The exercising phase {She went around the house for a year wearing tights, a leotard, and a headband doing jumping jacks. If you asked her what she was doing she’d say bluntly, “I’m eker-sising”.}

· The Rosie phase {No, not Odonnell or Perez. My parents refused to get us a dog when we were growing up – in hindsight for good reason – but poor Alex loved animals. As a sort of cop out my parents gave her this stuffed dog attached to a wheel and plastic leash. Alex could “walk” the dog around the house and it would yelp everywhere it went. Oh boy did it ever. She named the dog Rosie and it was a recognized member of our family for a good decade. I just talked to my mom the other day about Rosie and apparently we still have her. Good, I was worried.}

· The “Wizard of Oz” phase {She was Dorothy for 3 Halloweens in a row. My cool thrifty mom even made ruby slippers for her by covering her church shoes with red foil paper.}

· The “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” phase {She watched this movie everyday for six months until I hid it on top of the china cabinet. I still don’t understand the draw. Oh Alex, Kevin Costner? Bless your heart.}

· The “Grease” phase {I’m betting she could still show you the routine she made up for Grease Lightening, AND she knew every word! I’m just glad she was too young to understand the message.}

· The “Feliz Navidad” phase {This pretty much lasted every Christmas for 12 years. Every holiday season she played this song on repeat for hours. She always seemed so pleased that her birthday was near Christmas and that she was born in Spain, so I’m pretty sure she was convinced this song was written for her.}
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· The Black Eye Debacle {Not so much a phase as just a good story. She received the shiner featured below after she tripped and fell on to the corner of a coffee table while I was babysitting her at our neighbor's house. This black eye prompted her elementary school to 'investigate' her home life and our neighbor had to intervene and set the record straight before we were all shipped off to foster care. But it did up the awesomeness factor of her cowboy costume a week later. The whole situation seems comical. Now. Kind of.}
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There are many more phases, but these are my favorite. Ever since she was born she’s had a strong personality – the story goes that she came out unimpressed with the world and didn’t even smile until she was 15 months old. Because of this I think she’s always found a way to entertain herself, even when her mean bigger sister was constantly mocking her. I really was the meanest.

And apparently I still am.

PS – She can’t get back at me because she refuses to start a blog of her own. How do like them apples Lex?! Love you too :)