Holiday Update

The night of the 23rd, I hung out with my brother and his girlfriend. We went to my favorite Indian restaurant. Since the girlfriend has unknown tastes, I was pleasantly surprised that she loved the restaurant. The poor girl wound up ordering the hottest chicken dish and was dying from the heat. The girlfriend really impressed me this entire weekend. I was a little nervous about having a non-family member around but it turns out she kind of diffused holiday stress. Plus, since I'm the oldest of 22 cousins and always wanted to have a little sister, she and I got along swimmingly. I can make an AWESOME sister-in-law someday.

The 24th was my mother's family Xmas gathering complete with Yankee swap. Driving to my parent's, I saw a horrible high speed accident on 128 North. It involved at least 3 cars. Luckily I had time at my folks to calm my nerves until the big family shindig, The Yankee swap went this way for me: awesome gift, crap gift, and finally a gorgeous gift. I wound up with a gorgeous centerpiece bowl with a fascinating dye pattern. Of course getting me around my little cousins, with a couple glasses of wine in me, I completely regress. I was trying to seriously show my 9 year old cousin how to play the piano but seeing the fun she had mashing the keys, I joined in. Then her dad, my uncle, snapped at her for making so much noise. I timidly told him that it was me. Ha! Not only did I regress, I was totally inappropriate. I asked my 12 year old cousin if she was a woman yet. What? I got mine when I was 11! I can't not mention the fact that an uncle asked one of my cousins if she was pregnant and she totally isn't. So, she spent a good part of the night bawling her eyes out upstairs. He wound up getting the icy shoulder from the aunts plus moi all night.

Then we got home had our little family Xmas. I completely cleaned up - basically cut my Amazon wishlist in half. The best part of the night when my brother gave his girlfriend the big gift he had been preparing for her for weeks. Remember how my old laptop crapped out and that my brother is a computer wizard? He took that computer completely upgraded it with memory and airport card and gave it to her. She was totally surprised. There was shaking and tears. It was very touching. My mom did a bang up job cooking and buying "Santa" gifts. My dad was basically checked out the entire holiday eating, reading a newspaper or swearing in the next room because he forgot something. Oh yes, he did make coffee for the family both mornings. That was his contribution.

I got home last night. Finding places for gifts is almost as much fun as getting the gifts! I got a very cool World History atlas. The maps and narrative are completely engrossing. You can't just browse if you crack it open. You get sucked in. God bless the TV holiday marathons! Bravo had a Law & Order: Criminal Intent-a-thon all yesterday. I thought I was more and SVU gal, but I really liked CI. Tonight, I'm breaking in my Weight Watchers cookbook by making a pesto scallop dish. I don't eat fish much and I know it's a very healthy food. Plus, surviving a stroke means I need all the omega-3's I can get! You know what I realized today after shopping for ingredients? I don't eat fish a lot because it's EXPENSIVE!