Round 29: December 2029 (Summer)
Narrated by Calvin Clarke
It's been nice lately that Aaron and I have both had Tuesdays off. Seeing he's still getting up so early every morning for work, we often don't get to go out at night so we've been able to have day time dates.
Of course, for the past few weeks, those "dates" have had to turn into Christmas shopping trips. Christmas really snuck up on us this year. It somehow got to December and we hadn't bought gifts for anybody.
Our one little concession to Christmas in our unit is the tiny tree next to the TV. We really don't have the space for anything larger. We're never home on Christmas Day anyway.
This Christmas Day was hectic. All three of us headed over to Aaron's parents house and spent the first half of the day there.
It was nice having Maia come to Christmas with us this year. We've all been living together for so long now that we kind of feel like family, so it seemed right.
Neither of Aaron's parents are very proficient in the kitchen, so it was actually Ethan who cooked for us all. Maia's supposed to be learning to cook but she left Ethan to it that day.
Aaron's dad took some time to get used to the idea of Aaron being gay but I think he's over that now. He's a little bit standoffish at times but he's just like that in general, I think. Family gatherings are quite stress-free for us now.
So it was nice. Much quieter that what I knew was waiting for us at Mum's.
Christmas with Mum and Lake was much louder than at the Novaks. It wasn't even so much the amount of people - there are just a lot of noisy people in my family!
It takes the pressure off Aaron. He's not a big talker in large groups, so he likes not having to speak too much. Everyone else is more than happy to pick up his slack.
It's hard to get everyone together with such a big group but everyone makes an effort to at least put in an appearance at Christmas.
Mum loves nothing more than having us all back under the same roof again.
The main topic of conversation at Mum's was Troy and Josie's wedding. It's in February, so we're getting closer now.
Troy tells me that wedding planning got a lot better from him once Josie banned him from being involved in most of it. He wasn't interested in flowers or cake anyway.
Both Troy and Josie are much happier with this arrangement.
Mum is so excited. She's yet to get sick of talking about, or hearing about the wedding.
I think Troy and Josie might get tired of talking about it before Mum does.
Every time the wedding was brought up, she'd looking meaningfully over at me. She didn't ask me when Aaron and I will get married but I know what she's thinking. She's asked so many times before.
And I know she asked Aaron about it, because I overheard her. Once Mum has both Troy and me married off, she'll be happy.
I'm totally content with things the way they are, personally.
We're still living with Maia but I don't know how much longer that will continue.
She's got a good thing going with Ethan now and she's out with him a lot of the time.
I think they'll want their own place eventually.
We all stay out of each other's way but it's still not the same as having the place to yourself.
Maia hasn't said anything about moving in with Ethan but she talks about him constantly. They seem very happy together.
I still don't know about marriage. I definitely want to stay with Aaron forever but I just don't know why we need to get married to do that. We could raise a family without getting married. Plenty of people do; Aaron's own parents did. Aaron was 9 when they finally got hitched.
Aaron has said that if I really don't want to get married, he'd be okay with just living together. I think he believes that now but I don't think it would turn out that way.
I always catch him looking longingly at the wedding bands whenever we go shopping. Getting married is more important to Aaron than he really admits.
I was dead against marriage when Aaron first brought it up a couple of years ago. Now that I've had time to think about it though, I don't think getting married would really change much for me. We're committed already anyway. That's enough for me but I'm now willing to consider getting that piece of paper as well, if it means that much to Aaron.
last update/next update
Maia Novak is 27 and Aaron Novak and Calvin Clarke are both 26.
(Kendal is 53, Josie is 27, Troy is 26 and Ethan is 23)
(Kendal is 53, Josie is 27, Troy is 26 and Ethan is 23)
Narrated by Calvin ClarkeIt's been nice lately that Aaron and I have both had Tuesdays off. Seeing he's still getting up so early every morning for work, we often don't get to go out at night so we've been able to have day time dates.Of course, for the past few weeks, those "dates" have had to turn into Christmas shopping trips. Christmas really snuck up on us this year. It somehow got to December and we hadn't bought gifts for anybody.Our one little concession to Christmas in our unit is the tiny tree next to the TV. We really don't have the space for anything larger. We're never home on Christmas Day anyway.This Christmas Day was hectic. All three of us headed over to Aaron's parents house and spent the first half of the day there.It was nice having Maia come to Christmas with us this year. We've all been living together for so long now that we kind of feel like family, so it seemed right.Neither of Aaron's parents are very proficient in the kitchen, so it was actually Ethan who cooked for us all. Maia's supposed to be learning to cook but she left Ethan to it that day.Aaron's dad took some time to get used to the idea of Aaron being gay but I think he's over that now. He's a little bit standoffish at times but he's just like that in general, I think. Family gatherings are quite stress-free for us now.So it was nice. Much quieter that what I knew was waiting for us at Mum's.Christmas with Mum and Lake was much louder than at the Novaks. It wasn't even so much the amount of people - there are just a lot of noisy people in my family!It takes the pressure off Aaron. He's not a big talker in large groups, so he likes not having to speak too much. Everyone else is more than happy to pick up his slack.It's hard to get everyone together with such a big group but everyone makes an effort to at least put in an appearance at Christmas.Mum loves nothing more than having us all back under the same roof again.The main topic of conversation at Mum's was Troy and Josie's wedding. It's in February, so we're getting closer now.Troy tells me that wedding planning got a lot better from him once Josie banned him from being involved in most of it. He wasn't interested in flowers or cake anyway.Both Troy and Josie are much happier with this arrangement.Mum is so excited. She's yet to get sick of talking about, or hearing about the wedding.I think Troy and Josie might get tired of talking about it before Mum does.Every time the wedding was brought up, she'd looking meaningfully over at me. She didn't ask me when Aaron and I will get married but I know what she's thinking. She's asked so many times before.And I know she asked Aaron about it, because I overheard her. Once Mum has both Troy and me married off, she'll be happy.I'm totally content with things the way they are, personally.We're still living with Maia but I don't know how much longer that will continue.She's got a good thing going with Ethan now and she's out with him a lot of the time.I think they'll want their own place eventually.We all stay out of each other's way but it's still not the same as having the place to yourself.Maia hasn't said anything about moving in with Ethan but she talks about him constantly. They seem very happy together.I still don't know about marriage. I definitely want to stay with Aaron forever but I just don't know why we need to get married to do that. We could raise a family without getting married. Plenty of people do; Aaron's own parents did. Aaron was 9 when they finally got hitched.Aaron has said that if I really don't want to get married, he'd be okay with just living together. I think he believes that now but I don't think it would turn out that way.I always catch him looking longingly at the wedding bands whenever we go shopping. Getting married is more important to Aaron than he really admits.I was dead against marriage when Aaron first brought it up a couple of years ago. Now that I've had time to think about it though, I don't think getting married would really change much for me. We're committed already anyway. That's enough for me but I'm now willing to consider getting that piece of paper as well, if it means that much to Aaron.Extras:
The other, much smaller branch of the Novak family. It makes me a bit sad, because it's minus Tessa. :( But this was by far the easiest one to do!Notes:
- Title is from How It Should Be (Sha Sha) by Ben Kweller.
- Argh, this session drove me nuts! I crashed three times while trying to do Christmas at the Novaks, which is why there were hardly any pics (and the ones that I did get are mediocre). I had way more Sims on the lot at the Drapers, yet that ran beautifully. Grumble, grumble.
- As you may have guessed, Calvin rolled a want to marry Aaron this round. And wow, Aaron really wants to get married! He's got the generic want to get married and a specific want to marry Calvin. I probably would have had them get married anyway but I like it when both Sims have the want.
Aww, Christmas looks like it was a lot of fun. I love thier tiny tree.
ReplyDeleteApple Valley, their tree kind of reminds me of the tree my grandparents had once all us kids grew up. But it was a lot of fun (especially at the Drapers where I had no crashing or lag).
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading!
That was a cute update. I liked seeing the Christmas celebrations at both families' homes. My and my husband's first Christmas tree was only about an inch taller than theirs LOL. We had a small apartment and if we actually found a spot to put a full sized tree, we'd probably blow a fuse by plugging the lights in. It was a very old building with old wiring.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yay, Calvin and Aaron might be getting married in a couple sim years! Your first 2 male sim wedding! Planning that should go MUCH easier than trying to find the perfect dress for a female sim. Men have it so easy ;)
It's weird seeign a tree up in summer. LOL But I guess that's how it is in California and places that don't get snow. My grammy had a small tree too. She would decorate it with silver and gold. But she always sspend christmas with us, and we went all out.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I just don't get the game. It crashes with less sims on a lot, but runs wonderfully with a ton. Silly game.
I loved seeing the christmas parties! It looked like so much fun.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that many of your young couples are taking new steps in their relationships. Josie and Troy getting married, Calvin and Aaron possibly getting engaged soon, Maia and Ethan moving in together. Lots of changes and hopefully soon many many new babies :)
I can totally sympathize with the crashing. It's so annoying especially when it happens many times.
My grandmother had a tiny Christmas tree like that, lol! I think the smaller trees are really cute, even though they don't have as much of a festive feel - at least to me - than a big one.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that Aaron and Calvin might be getting married - maybe it'll put an end to Kendal's nagging!
I've been lucky so far about crashing, but the occasions I have had when it's happened were really frustrating. I don't know how you coped! ;)
I love your new banner I wish you could play my Sims and make a banner as beautiful as that.
ReplyDeleteLol in the picture where Aaron and Calvin are laying in bed together Calvin's face looks deformed.
Also I'm so sorry about the crashing, my game doesn't crash but instead of the grass neighborhood ground it turned black, or silver, or a random pattern and for some reason I can't make any downtown or else the roads are blue! Grr glitches and crashes.
Carla what do you use for your face shapes there so pretty and unique!
ReplyDeleteDani, in limited space, the last thing you'd be thinking about is where to fit a Christmas tree! It's only up for a few weeks a year (less if you get a real one, which nobody here does, as it's so warm at Christmas).
ReplyDeleteLOL, yeah, this will be my first male gay wedding. Boys do have it easy. Just pick a tux and they're done. Kind of boring too though!
Riverdale, there's a picture of me and all of my cousins on Christmas Day a few years back, slumped in front of a single fan because the AC wasn't working and it was 40C/104F outside! I guess you'd think that was really weird, lol! But Christmas in summer is what I'm used to, though I'm familiar enough with Christmas in winter from movies (and people still use wintery decorations here too).
And I know! I was being nice to my game and had only four visitors over and it crashes on me three times! What the hell, game?!
Sari, all my couples seem to be getting to that age, I guess! even if they roll a marriage want on the first date, I wait until it makes sense for them before they actually go through with it and for these couples, it all happened at once! I'm looking forward to all the new babies too. ;)
I hope you've solved all your crashing issues and don't have any more for a long, long, long time! You've had more than your fair share lately.
Shake, I guess the big trees have more room for presents, which I personally feel are very festive. ;) And you walk into the room and can't miss a big one, so it's hard to forget it's Christmas!
Kendal will be very pleased once Calvin and Aaron get married. But if Troy and Josie pop out a baby fairly quickly, I'll expect her to start pestering them about grandkids. Usually once my Sims have one grandchild, they want a million more!
I think I was too tired during the crashing to do anything other than sigh and reload! I had been walking for a total of two and a half hours that day and was ready to fall asleep!
K, thanks. It's really not hard to make banners. My Photoshop skills are very minimal. It's really just a matter of cropping the picture to the right size and then adding text.
As for my face replacements, I'm not sure how to answer that one! They're in a folder called "Selzi_New_Faces" but I think I actually removed the Selzi ones and replaced them with someone else's and then removed some of those and replaced them with my own replacements. I did 19 or 20 of my own, and then abandoned the project, even though I'd only have 6 more to do. It's a really tedious process, so I got bored.
All of the Sims in this update, except for Kendal and Lake were born in game anyway, so the face replacements don't really have much to do with them.
ooh, you've put up the new banner! As I said before, I love it, and it looks great on your blog!
ReplyDeleteLol at that small christmas tree! It's so sweet! They at least were able to get the christmasspirit!
I like the difference between the 2 christmasparties, one cosy and rathers small, the other one much more hectic but just as nice.
I love Ethan and Maia together, and I'm actually hoping they can stay together. Do they have a high chemistryscore (I'm not sure if it's called that...)?
I would love to see Aaron and Calvin get married, and apparently Aaron does too, I hope Calvin gives in :)
Nice familypicture, but you're absolutely right about Tessa not being there, I kind of had the feeling someone was missing :(
Oh, I have another WCIF-question, but it's not about this update though, nor is it about a recent one. If it's a top Adrienne wore when she was in college, the bright pink one, with the small flowers. I liked it then but always forgot to ask, and then forgot about it. But recently I've seen it in pictures for other downloads, but it's never mentioned where it's found. Do you remember where you got it from?
ReplyDeletegreat group shots, I tried a wedding once with a ton of Sims and it kept crashing~ PLus, I have so little patience! Great shots~
ReplyDeleteTanja, thanks! I'm going to change the banner with each new game year (hopefully). I have an idea for the next one but I don't know who I'll put in it yet.
ReplyDeleteNot only do Ethan and Maia have a very high attraction score (148), they actually have the highest natural chemistry in Sullivan. By natural, I mean that neither of them have the Massive Attraction benefit, which boosts attraction by a LOT!
Now that Aaron and Calvin both want to get married, it's pretty much a given that they will. They're not engaged yet though.
Ah, yeah, I remember that top but I have no idea where I got it. :\ But if you go to the WCIF forum at N99, someone is asking about it, because I posted a picture of Rose wearing one in a different colour. Hopefully, someone there will know where it came from.
Drew, thanks! Oh, yeah, I've done some BIG weddings! I've definitely had crashing and lag with them but I keep pushing it. The result is worth it to me. :)
I love that you did a summer Christmas! I tried that for a while, but it just didn't feel right in the game... maybe because the majority of the sims blogs I've read are written/set in the Northern Hemisphere, maybe because US terminology etc in the game, I just feel like sims are supposed to have Christmas in winter :)
ReplyDeleteBlackcat, when I did Christmas last year, I actually did it in winter, although the hood wasn't in winter at the time, so I considered it to be off the normal Sullivan timeline. But I'd already established winter being in the middle of the Sullivan year, so I just kept going with what I'd been doing.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean though! I actually do sort of see Sims as American and it's mainly because their voices sound American. I think I read that they tried to make the game fairly international but obviously a lot of American things snuck in.
Very appropriate title for this entry! If only it were simple enough for two men or two women to think about getting married.
ReplyDeleteThese two are a very cute couple. And Maia and Ethan, well that's just another "awww!"
Lunar, if only, huh? One day, it will hopefully be as easy in real life as it is in the Sims games. Now I'm trying to think back to whether TS1 had gay marriage, lol!
ReplyDeleteI've always loved Calvin and Aaron but I never really saw Maia and Ethan together, even though I've always been aware they were three-bolters. Once they started flirting though, it just seemed to make sense.