The youngins dragged us out of bed at 7 am (which was, mercifully, an hour later than the last time we were at my parents' house for Christmas). As we came down the stairs, the tree was lit up and surrounded by mounds of presents. We made out like bandits this year.[1]
For the first time that I can remember, I ate more breakfast than I ate candy. After cleaning up (and a few of us showered), we drove down to Layton to my grandparents' house. My sister, Ashley, lost a few games of Foosball and then we had lunch.
My extended family has a tradition of drawing names and then buying each other gifts from a dollar store.[2] There's not much you can get so we often take the route of buying each other gag gifts. Leann drew one of my uncles and I drew one of my cousins. I tried to convince Leann to buy my uncle some Baby Butt Cream that we found at the Dollar Tree, but she bought him a bird feeder instead. I bought my cousin a vuvuzela.[3] My aunt was…thrilled.
At the end of the day, my haul was: four movies (The Work and the Glory I and II, Inception, and Dark Knight), two Star Wars action figures (Boss Nass and Mas Amedda), two fishing lures, two games and an expansion pack (Discombobulation, Ticket to Ride, and Expansion Pack 7 for Munchkin, "More Good Cards"), a bamboo puzzle, a seven-piece tool set, some Spice Islands old hickory smoked salt, a CD (Tender Mercies by cellist Steven Sharp Nelson), a tiny fairy in a jar that will someday save my life, a pair of diabetic socks [4], and Stonehenge.[5]
Leann ended up with: four movies (a workout video, It's a Wonderful Life, Gone with the Wind, and Disney's Beauty and the Beast), two books (The Hunger Games and a journal), six kitchen items (a pastry blender, bamboo chopsticks, a Texas-shaped cookie cutter, some condiment bowls, a casserole carrier, and an apron), some earrings, a wall ornament made of Texas license plates welded together in the shape of Texas, a decoration that says "Count Your Blessings", and some party glasses that say "Happy Birthday".[6]
Notes:
[1] See my post What's in a Name? to find out why this is not a pun on our last name.
[2] FYI, Family Dollar and The Dollar General aren't dollar stores. Their names are lies. Most of their items are more than $1. I recommend that you refuse to help them benefit from this perfidy by refusing to patronize them.
[3] He started puffing on it almost immediately. I didn't bother to point out to him that since it came from a dollar store, dozens of snotty-nosed children had probably already done the same thing before him.
[4] This was my gag one-dollar gift given to me by my cousin's husband. It's not shown here because I accidentally left it at my grandparents' house. Maybe I'll include it in the director's cut.
[5] Okay. I confess. It's not the Stonehenge. It's just a Build Your Own Stonehenge. But that's still pretty cool.
[6] That was her gag gift from the dollar store, if you hadn't guessed.
For the first time that I can remember, I ate more breakfast than I ate candy. After cleaning up (and a few of us showered), we drove down to Layton to my grandparents' house. My sister, Ashley, lost a few games of Foosball and then we had lunch.
My extended family has a tradition of drawing names and then buying each other gifts from a dollar store.[2] There's not much you can get so we often take the route of buying each other gag gifts. Leann drew one of my uncles and I drew one of my cousins. I tried to convince Leann to buy my uncle some Baby Butt Cream that we found at the Dollar Tree, but she bought him a bird feeder instead. I bought my cousin a vuvuzela.[3] My aunt was…thrilled.
At the end of the day, my haul was: four movies (The Work and the Glory I and II, Inception, and Dark Knight), two Star Wars action figures (Boss Nass and Mas Amedda), two fishing lures, two games and an expansion pack (Discombobulation, Ticket to Ride, and Expansion Pack 7 for Munchkin, "More Good Cards"), a bamboo puzzle, a seven-piece tool set, some Spice Islands old hickory smoked salt, a CD (Tender Mercies by cellist Steven Sharp Nelson), a tiny fairy in a jar that will someday save my life, a pair of diabetic socks [4], and Stonehenge.[5]
Leann ended up with: four movies (a workout video, It's a Wonderful Life, Gone with the Wind, and Disney's Beauty and the Beast), two books (The Hunger Games and a journal), six kitchen items (a pastry blender, bamboo chopsticks, a Texas-shaped cookie cutter, some condiment bowls, a casserole carrier, and an apron), some earrings, a wall ornament made of Texas license plates welded together in the shape of Texas, a decoration that says "Count Your Blessings", and some party glasses that say "Happy Birthday".[6]
Notes:
[1] See my post What's in a Name? to find out why this is not a pun on our last name.
[2] FYI, Family Dollar and The Dollar General aren't dollar stores. Their names are lies. Most of their items are more than $1. I recommend that you refuse to help them benefit from this perfidy by refusing to patronize them.
[3] He started puffing on it almost immediately. I didn't bother to point out to him that since it came from a dollar store, dozens of snotty-nosed children had probably already done the same thing before him.
[4] This was my gag one-dollar gift given to me by my cousin's husband. It's not shown here because I accidentally left it at my grandparents' house. Maybe I'll include it in the director's cut.
[5] Okay. I confess. It's not the Stonehenge. It's just a Build Your Own Stonehenge. But that's still pretty cool.
[6] That was her gag gift from the dollar store, if you hadn't guessed.
Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
And Happy New Year!