Christmas
We finally got to have our Christmas yesterday. It was such a weird situation really. Normally we have a special breakfast with bacon and french toast on a Christmas morning, which we still did on the 25th, and then we'd usually open presents after that. This time we had Christmas two days later and Grammy and my brother came over around one to open the gifts. Grammy hadn't eaten anything in the morning. I guess she thought we were eating first or something? I wore a mask most of the time, but no one else did. Grammy and my brother say they're not afraid of COVID, but that's not really the point. They could spread it to others. They didn't let me hand out gifts. We traditionally play Santa every year, where someone gives a gift to a person, and then that person picks out a gift for someone else. So, they didn't let me handle the gifts, but they handed the gifts to me, so how does that make sense? I was having a good time though.
I got everything on my list except for the dresser of course. :P We'll probably shop for that later. A couple things my mom got me that weren't on my list though was that yummy Peppermint Bark from the Williams Sonoma store and these coffee kitty pajamas. I didn't need pajamas, but I'll take them. I wore them last night, but did have to take them off because they're not really warm enough. They work better for summer time. A little while ago, we went to Target with Grammy because she wanted us to pick out some gifts and put them in a cart and she would secretly choose a couple to give us for Christmas. So we didn't know what we were gonna get nor if she was going to remember who got what, but she did actually remember. Grammy has no money btw, so all she had was that Target credit card, but that's another extremely frustrating story. So a couple of these things I got were these Grogu (Baby Yoda from The Mandolorian series) and a Jurassic Park shirt. I was kinda hoping she'd get those Sour Cream and Onion cheez-it crisps I picked out. They're my new favorite thing. :P Will just have to get more myself. Then in my stocking I got two magazines. One with 100 photos of the year, and another that is described as a “guide to everything”. I also got a Reese's Snowman, a little Highlights hidden pictures puzzle book, a thing you break open to get gem stones (will have to find a place to do that where I won't make a mess), and a $50 Steam gift card, which was on my list (will have to figure out how to use that too). I think that was it. I might be forgetting something.
After opening, I did a couple puzzles in the Highlights book while waiting for my parents to get dinner together. My mom had picked up food from a local restaurant called Wood Ranch. That was going to be our plan for Christmas dinner. My brother had wanted brisket for Christmas dinner, so that's what we got. Brisket with caesar salad and dinner rolls. The rolls were not so great a day later, but I always love their caesar because that dressing is bomb. My parents also made their own mashed potatoes and my mom made gravy. I wanted to have that gravy that's sweetned by the ham juice, but there wasn't enough juice, so she tried boiling some ham with the fat in there. It still wasn't very sweet. Oh well. The brisket itself was kind of dry, but the flavor was good. For dessert we shared the sticky toffee pudding we got from Whole Foods with some vanilla ice cream. That stuff is so good. My brother thought it was too sweet.
I admit I wasn't wearing a mask when we were talking a while after dinner. I don't think it really mattered. I didn't seem to be very contagious. My parents didn't get sick. I did put it back on when we played Skip-Bo though. It does kind of help the sinuses. Even my brother played with us this time. Then we were talking about some awesome houses we saw with the Christmas lights and decorations. There's one maybe five minutes away that is amazing. It's all decked out. It's got a little dog park, trains, and so many other decorations. My mom and I saw it before, but my dad and Grammy hadn't, so we thought hey, why don't we check it out. My brother decided to go home though and didn't join us. We got to where the house was and parked. It was raining a little, but not bad. However, once we got to the house it started pouring, and the wind picked up so we hurried back to the car. It's really best appreciated up close, but the rain had bad timing, so we had no choice but to just view it from the car. Then my dad dropped my mom and I off and drove Grammy back home. That was our Christmas. While we unfortunately had to push it back a bit, at least we could still celebrate.
I've been getting better slowly. I still wouldn't say I'm at that 100% point yet. I still have residual sinus stuff. It never got really horrible except on day 3 I'd say was the worst day. It didn't tire me out like colds usually do. It was still pretty annoying though. I've certainly had worse colds before and I've had better. I kind of lean towards that's what this is only because I haven't lost my taste and smell. At this point, I don't think that's going to happen and it doesn't necessarily always happen either with COVID, but then there's the fact I didn't get anyone else sick, so … I'm still not planning on going anywhere though at least until Thursday. But is it wrong of me to wish this was COVID just so I could get it over with? One thing I'm done with is masking up when around my parents. Seems like they're gonna be fine.
On to New Year's then. I'm thinking that's probably what I'll be posting about next plus about the Doctor Who special.
I got everything on my list except for the dresser of course. :P We'll probably shop for that later. A couple things my mom got me that weren't on my list though was that yummy Peppermint Bark from the Williams Sonoma store and these coffee kitty pajamas. I didn't need pajamas, but I'll take them. I wore them last night, but did have to take them off because they're not really warm enough. They work better for summer time. A little while ago, we went to Target with Grammy because she wanted us to pick out some gifts and put them in a cart and she would secretly choose a couple to give us for Christmas. So we didn't know what we were gonna get nor if she was going to remember who got what, but she did actually remember. Grammy has no money btw, so all she had was that Target credit card, but that's another extremely frustrating story. So a couple of these things I got were these Grogu (Baby Yoda from The Mandolorian series) and a Jurassic Park shirt. I was kinda hoping she'd get those Sour Cream and Onion cheez-it crisps I picked out. They're my new favorite thing. :P Will just have to get more myself. Then in my stocking I got two magazines. One with 100 photos of the year, and another that is described as a “guide to everything”. I also got a Reese's Snowman, a little Highlights hidden pictures puzzle book, a thing you break open to get gem stones (will have to find a place to do that where I won't make a mess), and a $50 Steam gift card, which was on my list (will have to figure out how to use that too). I think that was it. I might be forgetting something.
After opening, I did a couple puzzles in the Highlights book while waiting for my parents to get dinner together. My mom had picked up food from a local restaurant called Wood Ranch. That was going to be our plan for Christmas dinner. My brother had wanted brisket for Christmas dinner, so that's what we got. Brisket with caesar salad and dinner rolls. The rolls were not so great a day later, but I always love their caesar because that dressing is bomb. My parents also made their own mashed potatoes and my mom made gravy. I wanted to have that gravy that's sweetned by the ham juice, but there wasn't enough juice, so she tried boiling some ham with the fat in there. It still wasn't very sweet. Oh well. The brisket itself was kind of dry, but the flavor was good. For dessert we shared the sticky toffee pudding we got from Whole Foods with some vanilla ice cream. That stuff is so good. My brother thought it was too sweet.
I admit I wasn't wearing a mask when we were talking a while after dinner. I don't think it really mattered. I didn't seem to be very contagious. My parents didn't get sick. I did put it back on when we played Skip-Bo though. It does kind of help the sinuses. Even my brother played with us this time. Then we were talking about some awesome houses we saw with the Christmas lights and decorations. There's one maybe five minutes away that is amazing. It's all decked out. It's got a little dog park, trains, and so many other decorations. My mom and I saw it before, but my dad and Grammy hadn't, so we thought hey, why don't we check it out. My brother decided to go home though and didn't join us. We got to where the house was and parked. It was raining a little, but not bad. However, once we got to the house it started pouring, and the wind picked up so we hurried back to the car. It's really best appreciated up close, but the rain had bad timing, so we had no choice but to just view it from the car. Then my dad dropped my mom and I off and drove Grammy back home. That was our Christmas. While we unfortunately had to push it back a bit, at least we could still celebrate.
I've been getting better slowly. I still wouldn't say I'm at that 100% point yet. I still have residual sinus stuff. It never got really horrible except on day 3 I'd say was the worst day. It didn't tire me out like colds usually do. It was still pretty annoying though. I've certainly had worse colds before and I've had better. I kind of lean towards that's what this is only because I haven't lost my taste and smell. At this point, I don't think that's going to happen and it doesn't necessarily always happen either with COVID, but then there's the fact I didn't get anyone else sick, so … I'm still not planning on going anywhere though at least until Thursday. But is it wrong of me to wish this was COVID just so I could get it over with? One thing I'm done with is masking up when around my parents. Seems like they're gonna be fine.
On to New Year's then. I'm thinking that's probably what I'll be posting about next plus about the Doctor Who special.