We arrived back home late last night, and returned the rental car today. That was a bit of a funny experience. When we went to pick up the car on Friday, the location we scheduled a pick up was closed! Ugh! So, we called the customer service line and they actually ended up being very helpful. We got a free upgrade and only had to go a few blocks over to another Budget location in order to pick up our car. My half of the rental is $80 (which I have in short term savings), and I only spend $13.03 for gas. We travelled with a friend of ours, and he picked up a couple of the fill-ups as a thank you for the ride. My boyfriend picked up one other fill-up, and I handled the topping off this morning. So, about $100 per person instead of the roughly $290 for a plane ticket (plus transportation to the airport).

Anyway, Christmas was lots of fun. I spent it with my boyfriend's parents and sister and had a good time. There were a few rough moments, but that's kind of to be expected with his family. My boyfriend and his father don't really get along, so at least once per trip there is some sort of blow up. His mom, his sister, and myself just go in the other room and have a cocktail or something We also got to see a lot of old friends, as well as a few friends who moved back home only recently and who I know from Seattle. Lots of spending on going out But oh well . . .

I actually came in under budget as far as Christmas shopping. I'll take the $66 and earmark it for my dental visit in February. I also got some more Christmas cash, which I'm still not sure how I'm going to use. I'll try and use it on something fun though

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Spending/Saving:

$60 to short term save (Christmas money)

12/23
$22 dinner out

12/26
$2 snacks

12/27
$44 drinks out

12/28
$11 cigarettes
$1.50 ATM fee
$7 drinks out

12/29
$10 road snacks

$75.64 left in budget (til 1/5)