{Six}

We loved looking at animals. And fish. In fact, we both got siamese fighting fish on the same day.

 Mine looked something like this. I thought you chose a very interesting place to raise yours though. The washroom. We used to overfeed them for fun. I named mine Rainbow and it died after like a year.

Back then, maybe it was summertime but we always had phone conversations lasting quite a few hours. I always felt kind of honoured whenever we spoke on the phone, like I was worth your time and it meant a lot even if it sounds ridiculous now. You could be thinking "Why wouldn't you be worth my time?" but little kids thought dumb things like that. Including me.

We talked about our fish and other random things. It was really fun even if it was a short phase.

{Five}

Then came the day when we used that mini oven thing to make pizza bites and being the idiotic me I burnt my hand. I actually still kind of have the scar from then, but now it's much more faded. Goes to show how long scars stay xD (i'm so irrelevant)

After that accident happened, I was pretty much in tears and you taught my mom to put toothpaste on the burn. Again, I thought you seriously knew everything. To get me to stop crying you taught me origami. I knew you made origami, but I never thought I could do it myself.

The first thing you ever taught me to fold was a turtle.

I still remember it. When I went home that night, I was really excited that I had a new hobby to work with. You gave me some origami paper to practice with and I was really frustrated when I got home because I kept missing a step. I felt a little ashamed that I forgot already, but I remembered soon after a few tries and began folding non stop. It was like a new obsession. The next time I went to your house you asked if I still remembered. Of course I did!

Afterwards you taught me the star box and then the crane. It's funny because people usually learn the crane first, but I'm happy I'm unique. I think the last thing you taught me how to fold was a ninja star? I still remember all these. Somewhere in between you even taught me a flower. Back in grade 4 I'd say origami was my obsessive hobby. The sanrio store owners knew me as the girl who always bought stickers and origami paper, and I always carried a stack in my pocket, folding when I wasn't walking or eating.

You told me about the myth of folding 1000 cranes and getting a wish after. I wasnted to test that challenge and you said you'd help me. I think together we got up to about 400 or 600 something before we gave up, but the effort was amazing. My room was filled with cranes everywhere, I ran out of jars and they just lay on the floor. Eventually my mom threw them all out and I think that was when we gave up.

This is one of the skills you've given me that I still keep. Thank you for teaching me origami.

{Four}

And then there were our kitchen adventures. I couldn't cook for my life, and frankly, you kind of couldn't either. But I didn't think so at that time. I thought you knew everything (literally) and followed you like ... an apprentice? I guess you could say, haha. One day no adults were home so we went to the kitchen and you wanted to show me how to make juice.

That grape and orange juice we made was HORRIBLE, you have to admit. But the process was really exciting.

Then there was what we called "the Sharon sushi". Back when I didn't like the idea of eating raw fish, you made this for me to try and it was good!

You put that stuff in it! Wow.. just looking at that makes me kind of hungry. My house doesn't have that anymore -sigh-.

{Three}

I wasn't good at singing, and probably back then when you forced me to sing I was still pretty shy. But I remember when we were on that trip to Kelowna, was it? There was a song you always had stuck in your head. It was "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey.

You sang it on the bus constantly. I think back then when mp3's were still popular you had one and forced me to listen to the song a lot. I didn't mind though. This song was actually really good. Even though I'm almost completely isolated from Western music at this point, I still remember this song because it was a song you showed me.

It's funny, I remember the things you show me the most. There was also Mistake No. 2 that you showed me. Good song, I still listen to it to this day.

{Two}

I remember back when I used to go to your house at least once a week and you would teach me the most random things ever that I thought I needed to know in order to become a normal person in life. Back in your spider infested basement, I remember we used to jump around, sing or dance or whatever and you taught me this symbol. Remember it?

It looked something like that. I can't remember. But you said something like it was the symbol for eternal friendship. I thought it was super amazing, and you even drew it on a christmas card you gave me. It was a red card with gold trees, and I actually kept it up until a few years ago when my mom trashed my collection box of cards. Still, I probably kept it for over 7 years so that's an achievement to me. Your writing has gotten a lot prettier since then (obviously LOL... it should've!)

{One}

I'm not going to bother thinking of a title for any post because I'll probably just come up with something lame. Also, I can't guarantee the memories will be in chronological order because I don't think them up in order. ANYWAY, here's the first memory!

Do you remember this?

I do.

You made it and gave it to me, I think because I liked the glow in the dark wings? It's funny, even now when I'm 16 I still find glow in the dark objects very entertaining. Even I'm surprised I still have this, but I really love it.

There were a lot of things you gave to me... and I can't possibly list them all. Honestly I've tried to keep all of them, but my mom throws a lot of stuff away when she cleans. Thankfully at least I still have this, but also even more thankfully, it's not all I have to remember you by.

I always have and always will forever look up to you, you know that right? Even for really insignificant hobbies like making bead figures, I thought you were the coolest person on Earth. To me, you'll always be one of the coolest people on Earth. It doesn't matter what you say, what you do, what you achieve and what you don't. Just know that I'll always look up to you, because you're like an older sister to me.

"WTH is this?" You say?

So basically, there's a lot of things I want to say, reminisce with you about, and thank you for that just won't fit in a Christmas card. It feels like I owe you a lot for the person I am today (You can't deny that either!) so let this be part of your Christmas present--A gigantic thank you from me to you, Sharon Hoang! ^^

I guess it'll be like a scrapbook of memories. If you hate reading a lot then... SUCKS TO BE YOU hahaha! I write paragraphs like no tomorrow (: Whether you read everything or not is up to you, but every word I type is sincerely from the heart. I'll separate different thoughts into different posts. I'm gonna try to touch on every significant memory for as long as I remember, whether you remember them or not. If I remember the event then it happened and you're just forgetful! Just kidding, but seriously, let's see how far my memory goes. You might have fun comparing your version of the same memory with mine ^^.

You may have noticed that the first post is dated November 21, 2011. I decided to start early since this will be a "virtual card" that will be built as time goes by up until the day you finally see it (and hopefully you won't see it much earlier before Christmas).

[P.S.] Forgive any typos since I am a person who HATES editing my own writing. also if you're wondering why this is green, it's because green is a Christmas color and I hate red (:!

~Love, Esther THE ONE AND ONLY.