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Browsing Tag: Christmas
Christmas Eve was spent with my family at my house. It was nice to not have to travel. But all of the workaholics in my family worked a half day. Somehow the morning started with my brother being missing, but not really. He wasn’t around when my sister went to pick him up for work that morning and he wasn’t answering his phone. Now, my brother has a tendency towards bad luck, so we spent the morning in a half panic until Molly spotted him on the job site a few hours later.
Of course, our familial concern only made Mason crabby. So when he showed up with his contribution of burrito flavored beef jerky, he was angry that we cared so much to bombard his phone with messages and even go so far as to Facebook his roommate (who we haven’t met) to make sure he wasn’t dead.
But besides Molly spending her work day mentally planning Mason’s funeral and thinking about what to say in the eulogy she would give, the day was pretty laid back.
Andrew, my mom, the dogs, and I spent the morning playing cards.
Then we waited for everyone to arrive. It was a very odd holiday because there was no snow on the ground, our grandparents were traveling, and we didn’t give any gifts because we had decided to spend the weekend at Mystic Lake a few weeks ago. So we watched Christmas specials, stuffed ourselves with food, and played 13 rounds of Mexican Train.
Then, it was time for the traditional ugly Christmas sweater family picture. This year we didn’t have anyone to take the picture for us, so once again we resorted to the self timer.
This year, my family decided to take a small vacation together instead of buying gifts. We were sick of trying to figure out what everyone wanted. It was hard to find something my dad would actually like that was made in America, something techy for Andrew, and finding anything that my sister would actually like and not just feel obligated to keep.
So after trying to plan several trips that were out of our price range, we settled on spending a weekend at Mystic Lake Casino. None of us are gamblers, except my brother Mason who is extraordinarily lucky when it comes to things like bingo, so this vacation was a bit strange to plan. We may have been dazzled by the off-brand holiday cirque show they had playing in their showroom this season.
Check-in was Friday. Andrew and I were able to get on the road fairly soon after work, despite me deciding to make a mug of tea and a cheese quesadilla for the road as Andrew was starting the car. We checked in, brought our luggage up to the room and the hijinks commenced. My sister brought Andrew an ugly Christmas sweater to wear later in the evening. He tried it on while my mom was out of the room and this may have happened:
Yes we are immature and changed my mom’s background to this wonderful picture of her son-in-law. We thought it was hilarious; she was slightly amused.
I have had a great time looking through old Christmas pictures, so I figured I’d share a couple.
The first Christmas that Andrew and I were dating there was a huge snowstorm, so we didn’t even get to spend it together. Instead, me and my teenage siblings made snowmen in the front yard. It was obviously hard work.
I just wanted to show that I have a super cool sister.