Merry Christmas!
Last night we picked up E on the way to my parents’ house. But before that we stopped at Portillo’s to pick up some beef and salads. My mom wasn’t in the mood to cook so she asked us to get that while she had my brother pick up KFC. I was impressed how Portillo’s handled all the people picking up catering orders – they had a table set up with various stations where you checked in, paid, and people packed a nice box with your food. Everyone couldn’t have been nicer! It never ocurred to me how many people would want Portillo’s for Christmas until yesterday. Unfortunately, the beef didn’t end up tasting like a classic Portillo’s beef sandwich so I’m not sure I’d go that route in the future.
Once Brother # 2’s girlfriend got there we worked on getting the food ready to eat. As always, there was still more food than necessary so I couldn’t try everything, but what I did have was really good.
Surprisingly, my mom got really emotional over us buying her and my dad a computer. At first she thought it was a toaster oven based on the box size, so that was awesome unintentionally tricking her like that. I’m pretty sure when we bought them their last computer she guessed it right off the bat which kinda sucked. We grabbed their old computer so we can retrieve all their music files and whatnot from it, burn it to DVD, and then transfer it to their new computer next week when we’re over there for New Years.
Crazy BINGO gifts before I wrapped them a week ago
Crazy BINGO was a bit of a letdown simply because no one wanted to steal except my mom who stole my dad’s present much to his dismay. They were both getting kinda angry over the whole thing which was funny since neither present was anything exceptional. My dad got the dollar store electronic candles, and my mom got the decorate your own reindeer. Brother # 2 got the ping pong game, Brother # 1 got the Christmas sign, R (Brother #2’s girlfriend) got the Pot of Gold, E got the pickle in the plastic canister, I got the coal in Santa’s pants, and Joe got the paddle with the $5 gift card (and he didn’t cheat because only I know what was in each present and even I forgot and grabbed a lame gift).
My brothers seemed to like the gifts I got them. I got Brother # 1 a Fart Ninja t-shirt and some candy (including five packs of Super Mario gummies that only come out around Christmas) and I gave Brother # 2 some hot cooca, candy, a “lens pen” to clean his camera’s lenses. Brother # 1 tried to give us a card with $60 in it and I made him take back $20 of it (I tried to make him take back $40 but he refused). He still doesn’t get that the whole reason I stopped the gift exchange years ago is because of what he just did. I don’t want someone to hand me cash. It means nothing. No thought is put into a gift of cash. I only started giving my brothers small gifts last year because I missed buying for more than two people every year. I enjoy finding stuff people would like. It’s too bad it’s not reciprocated. *sigh*
Anyway, overall the night went pretty well and even though it didn’t quite live up to my expectations it was a good time.