The Adventures of Miss Amy: This is How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch

You really are a heel

You're as cuddly as a cactus

And as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch

It was Christmas Eve. The night before my debut as the Grinch who stole Christmas. It was 1 a.m. The stockings were not hung on the chimney with care because:

A: I don't have a fireplace
B: I didn't have any stockings
C: I was boycotting Christmas

The blinking Gulf Airlines sign, perched on the peak of the nearby building, projected the counterfeit luster of the mid-day sun into my cozy little room. I closed the curtains and gingerly placed my costume on the edge of my king sized bed. Green leotard. Check. Santa corset. Check. Green hair dye. Check. Long creepy nails. Check.

Tomorrow was Christmas and I was armed and dangerous!

At six in the morning, I was awoken to the Call to Prayer. The prayer radiated loudly from the mosque a few blocks down, reminding me that I was celebrating Christmas in a foreign land! The Muezzin, sang the prayer in a loud methodical tone. I sure was a long way from home.

Allahu Akbar 

(God is Great)

Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah 

(I bear witness that there is no god except the One God)

Ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasool Allah

(I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God)

Hayya 'ala-s-Salah 

(Rise up for prayer)

As-salatu Khayrun Minan-nawm 

(Prayer is better than sleep)

As the prayer continued to carry on, I closed my eyes and thought about Christmas. I thought about my family. I could almost imagine what they were doing at that very moment. With a 9 hour time difference, it was still Christmas Eve for them. Then I thought about my Dad, who was in Hong Kong. I made a mental note to call him but knew he would most likely beat me to it.

My Mom was probably baking up a storm. There would be Christmas music on and snow on the ground. Some of my siblings, remember there are seven of us, would most likely be gathered near the fireplace. They would probably be playing Monopoly, which ALWAYS causes a fight of some sorts. And of course there would be something random going on, like there always is at my parents house, homemade beauty treatments…facial masks… sing alongs… shooting potato guns off the deck. Basically, my family is cRaZy!

After my nostalgic moment, I decided to get the day going. I called up my friend and ordered him to come over for breakfast. So what if it was 8 in the morning! I put on my Santa hat and starting cooking breakfast. We blasted Christmas music in the kitchen and danced around like little kids! I felt a little closer to home. Then it was off to my boss's house for a Christmas brunch. More food. More Christmas music. More friends. Who could ask for more?

After brunch, it was time to start cooking for our dinner party. Metaphorically speaking, my roommate and I put on our chef hats and GOT BUSY. We spent the remainder of the day in the kitchen preparing a turkey dinner. I even set up the dinning room table with the only Christmas decoration in the house, a snow globe. Ha Ha! Yes, even the Grinch wanted the table to be "properly" set up.

Basically the rest of the day was a fury of activity. 8 dinner guests turned into 12. No problem! We had more then enough food to spare. Dinner turned into dancing in the flat. Dancing in the flat turned into, "lets go out!!!" The Grinch and her friends danced until 5:30 in the morning!