December 25, 1990
Merry Christmas Day, diary! I'm here at Grandma and Grandpa's at Hayvenhurst, their house in Encino. This is the house they moved into when Daddy and his brothers and sisters moved to California. It's also where Daddy and I lived before we moved to Neverland.
All the family was here. Every single one of my 20 cousins, and all my uncles and most of my aunts. The only one missing was LaToya. One of my cousins celebrated his birthday while Daddy and I were in Africa. Rebbie and Nathaniel's son Austin, otherwise known as Auggie, turned 5. I think Jasmine may have celebrated a birthday, but I'm not sure, because I don't remember her birthday. All I know she was born in 1988. I'll have to ask Uncle Jermaine her birthday. I think Valencia and Brittany may also have celebrated birthdays, but I can't remember their birthdays either. I'll have to ask Uncle Marlon.
Anyway, we had a good Christmas dinner. Grandma made fried chicken and lot's of green beans and potatoes and stuff like that. She's really good at that. She said one day she'll teach me her fried chicken recipe so if I have brothers and sisters, or children of my own, I can teach them. All the girls,12 and older, helped her in the kitchen. Daddy helped too. I wanted to help her out because I felt sort of bad for her. When she a little girl, she contracted polio. While she made a full recovery and is fine, her leg was damaged and she walks with a limp. She always says she doesn't need help because that's the way she is.
Now for some fun stuff. My cousins, Auggie and Dawn, who are 5, Brandi, whose 8, Jeremy, whose 4, Jaimy, whose 3, Jasmine, who I think is two, Jourdynn and Genevieve who are 1, and I were all drawing pictures out in the backyard. Well some were drawing, but Jasmine, Jourdynn, Genevieve were mostly scribbling, but art is art. Stevanna was also with us, but was just watching because she's only six months old. She was entertained in her bouncy chair with her toys and chewies.
Auntie Janet and Auntie Rebbie called me inside because they wanted to discuss something serious. All the older family members age 12 and up, including my cousins to ask whether we had heard from LaToya. None of us had. I heard from Daddy she was living in New York City, and I think I have the correct address, but every time I send her a letter or a card for her birthday or Christmas, I never receive a reply. I even wrote to her from Africa, but I still didn't hear anything. I am honestly getting worried. I haven't heard from nor seen her since I was about 9 years old. The last time I remember seeing her was when Daddy was shooting his short film for "The Way You Make Me Feel." That was about 3 years ago.
I heard she got married, and that her husband's name is Jack. If she's happily married, then that's great and I'm happy for her. If she's not or is in any way, being controlled or not treated well, then I wish she'd let us know. If she's happy, then I wouldn't worry. If she's not then we'd do something to help her. Daddy thinks "something is rotten in the state of Denmark." That's from that Shakespeare play "Hamlet". I don't really know what that means since Denmark is a country, but whatever.
After we had finished our talk, the older guys except for Daddy went outside to do "guy stuff." I think they played football. I don't understand the game very well. It seems to me that's it's just a lot of running and falling down.
I went to check on my cousins and saw something that nearly made me screech. While I was gone, my cousins, and I never found out who, because no one confessed, had scribbled all over Stevanna! That's the last time I let my cousins near my markers! I told them to behave and not draw on the walls. I should have added not to draw on each other. Since no one confessed, they all got time outs. I have the distinct feeling it may have been Genevieve who did the scribbling. I don't know if I mentioned this, but Stevanna and Genevieve are sisters. If she did it, maybe she did it out of sibling rivalry, because she's not the baby anymore. That's a good theory. Maybe I should be a child psychologist when I grow up, instead of a pediatrician or elementary school teacher. I love kids, so I think those are good jobs. I wonder if my aunt's and uncle's would let me practice medical techniques on my cousins now. Probably not.
Anyway, Stevanna needed a bath. Uncle Randy let me do it. That was nice of him. I'm glad he trusts me enough to let me do that. He says I am a very responsible kid. I guess that babysitting safety course I took came in handy. I took that in January of this year because I thought if I ever watch my cousins, I should know basics like to change diapers, give baths, and what to do in case of an emergency. I now know how to do CPR and all that life-saving stuff.
Auntie Rebbie and Auntie Janet came to help me just in case she got fussy. Anyway I took off her jammies, filled her little baby tub with water, making sure the water wasn't too hot or cold, and used her baby soap to get her nice and clean. I like that soap. It smelled sort of like baby powder and something else, just sort of a good baby smell I guess. All the marker came off. Luckily they weren't permanent. They were non-toxic, too. Just as we were finishing up, Daddy came in in with Genevieve and said she had a confession. As it turns out, she was the one who scribbled on Steveanna. She apologized to her daddy, and then to her sister. She also apologized to me for misbehaving. I gave her a hug and a kiss, and told her I forgave her. She said she would never draw on her sister again.
Now that that's done, here's what I got for Christmas. Daddy gave me new dance shoes, I'd outgrown my old ones. I also got lots of new clothes, which was good, as I'd given a lot of my old ones to the homeless shelter. I also got a new sketchbook and new pencils. I also got a brand new camera. My old one broke while we were in Africa. Luckily, I'd gotten all the pictures I'd wanted. I showed the animal pictures to my little cousins and the rest to my older ones and the adults. Grandma also gave me her fried chicken recipe! I know she said she'd give it to me one day. She said now seemed like a good time and that I should cook it for Daddy. He may be a vegetarian, but he loves fried chicken. We had some in the limo coming here. We stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken drive-through on the way. Imagine the employee's surprise when they found out it was Daddy!
Now for something a little strange. I was putting my little cousins to bed, when I was reading them stories, I started getting a headache and the words looked a little blurry. Daddy took over when my headache got really bad. He noticed that I was holding the book very close. He said that headaches, the words being blurry, and holding a book very close might mean I need reading glasses. We agreed to have my vision checked when we get home.
Anyway, diary, it's been a long day. Everyone is going home tomorrow. I'll talk to you then. Merry Christmas again!
Love and Hugs,
Katie