I enjoyed my winter break, but it is now time to hit the books
Christmas Eve was spent at our little apartment with Dude and his family. For someone who never celebrated Christmas growing up, I was impressed by his affair. He made panes con pollo for dinner, and they came out delish! I am glad because it was his first time making them. Very daring, if you ask me, to serve something you have never attempted before! He bought small gifts for a white elephant; I winded up with some nice cocktail glasses I traded for my In-N-Out giftcard. He also came up with a trivia game last minute where the winner took $100. His father won that as well as the $20 from the white elephant, although I think Dude was being biased and granted his dad favor since his dad has been out of work ever since his DUI accident. Also in attendance were Dude's brothers, mother, aunt, and cousin who showed up later. This was all a surprise to me because, one, our apartment is tiny, and, two, they don't celebrate Christmas or any other holiday. I left the party to try to meet up with my parents at my brother's house about an hour away, but they were literally driving away as I pulled up. We got out of the cars and I gave them their Christmas hugs, hung out at my brother's for about an hour, and returned to the party at my place.
Christmas day was spent at another brother's house. We did the typical potluck, pozole, and tamales. My nieces and nephews did their gift exchange. We left that party early (like 9pm) after the lack of sleep and excessive drinks caught up to Dude. We rested for about two days and then caught a flight to Napa Valley. My eldest sister turned 50 in November, but we didn't celebrate it until these days because she lives on the east coast and a winter retreat in Napa sounds way better than traveling over there. It was cute: half of us met up at the airport here in LA and the other half met us up there. We stayed at a nice hotel, had our own shuttle drive us to the wineries, went ice skating, had a nice dinner. There were no fights, arguments, or bitch fits. It was a nice three-day trip.
New Year's Eve was spent at my cousin's ranch out in the high desert. They have been wanting to host our family for the past couple of years but covid ruined those plans. Dude and I didn't show up until after midnight because he got out of work late, but we still had fun. The following morning was round two. I woke up still drunk, and got more drunk. We had ponche and pozole, then my brother butchered a whole damn pig and made carnitas. I waited all day to eat those carnitas but only had one taco because I had one of those stupid aspirate fits, where I swallow air or aspirate food. It usually happens when I eat to fast or because I am speaking and eating at the same time. This last time, I was reprimanding my dad for trying to pick a drunken fight. I tried to force myself to throw up, since that usually helps. Instead of trying to sneak back to the festivities, we ended up just going home. It was getting late, we had to take out the dog, and if we stayed longer, we probably would have gotten drunker.
And of course, I was sick all day yesterday with the sweats, delirium tremens, body soreness, you know, typical alcoholic stuff. Dude took care of me all day, bless his soul. Cleaned the entire apartment, made me some chicken soup, and nursed me with some beer and wine. That should be that last drink I will be having in a long time. Dude is willing to sober up with me, too. He has agreed to no alcohol, weed, or drugs. At least for six months? We'll see. He is turning 30 this March, and well, we'll see.
Alright, great update. Now I have to get back to my studies. Cheers.