..And how jolly it was!
On Saturday, my family headed out to Bakersfield, California, city of the eternal dry heat (almost!) to visit Papa and Grammy (my dad's parents). We made the pilgrimage in a mere 3 1/2 hours! We arrived a day earlier than everyone else to have the grand parents to ourselves for a bit. All-in-all, the trip was a good one: we saw old family we hadn't seen in at least two years, we ate good food, and enjoyed the company of our grandparents. Let me tell you a few things we did. Once I get the photos together, I'll post captions and all that..
For *almost* four days, we laughed and talked, played Guitar Hero II, ate, laughed and talked more, ate again, oh-and-drank-enough-soda-to-sink-the-Titanic, had a gift exchange, and generally enjoyed the holiday.
'Tis the season to stop running and sit down - look at how family has changed, eat Christmas gourmet meals and enjoy giving presents.
Take two families of boys (heh, can you still call a 20-year-old a boy?), a sprinkling of aunts and uncles, throw in a grandparent or two, and you have a recipe for a good weekend. The time of Christmas is when family is supposed to come together and try and get along in the same house for a few days. First, you need an endless supply of soda - Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper. Then you need lots of meat and potatoes. Hearty stuff to keep the entertainment going.
Next you need a large TV, a console, and a game or three. If you add a few computers for good measure, you're all set. Don't worry, we didn't camp out in the den much, but I must say that the TV was in demand.
Amidst the oh-so-pleasant sound of 80's rock hits coming from the main bedroom (Guitar Hero II was fun, even though I was the worst there!), FIFA 2007 in the family room, and hand-and-foot playing in the kitchen area, cookies got swapped, cans opened and candy consumed.
On Christmas day, when all the family was finally assembled, there was an intimidating pile of presents to wade through - all in a nice circle around the Christmas tree. As the angel on top watched over all, wrapping paper was torn up, and tissue paper rolled up and tossed like snowballs. People went around the room constantly, exchanging hugs and thank-you's. The gift exchange I would say, was a big hit. How it went was that everyone involved, in this case all the cousins, brought a gift costing $5 or under. Then every person got a ticket with a number on it. When it was their turn, he would choose a gift, and then unwrap it. The person after him would choose to either steal that gift, or open a new one - but the same gift couldn't be stolen in the same round,
and a gift could only be stolen three times. So thus a stuffed toy dog, a Jamba Juice gift card and a large bag of assorted candy passed through my hands. I ended up taking a bag of Jelly Bellies and gum from the fingers of my disappointed cousin Chad, and it was finally over.
God rest ye merry, gentlemen.
Comments (7)
I swear, if I have to sing jingle bells one more time this season I'm going to.. I dunno what I'm going to do, but it won't be pleasant.
I feel like leaving a lot of comments.