Christmas three days late
Dec. 29th, 2022 06:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dmxratedMom picked up Marie, Drew, and Aunt Marie at the airport two days ago. We had postponed Christmas for until yesterday, so as not to leave them out by the time they could come here.
I was the first one up, and put all the Christmas lights on while it was still dark. While the tree was at its prettiest, I decided to gather everyone up, starting with Marie and Drew. Having had left my phone up in the apartment where they were sleeping, I gave it a ring in an attempt to draw them down from the loft, but it didn't work before I simply went up there myself. They did find it rather amusing, though, to be hearing part of the song from New Game!, which at some point later I offered to pick up from the library next time they arrive.
Marie did ask what time it was, though, and promised to wake up 15 minutes from there. Mom and Aunt Marie woke up on their own, so Dad and Brian were the last ones up.
-----
Among other things, I got a new laptop that I'm trying out by typing this entry on, and the following manga:
-Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc, volume 3
-Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, v. 3
-Tokyo Mew Mew, v. 4 and 5
-Zodiac P.I., v. 4
For my gifts to everyone else, I got Dad a new rake, and Aunt Marie a magnetic string of beads that can be worn as a necklace or bracelet. Got Brian a new copy of Limbo, because he came so close last year to finishing it for himself before losing it. (We've assumed this whole time that he placed it on our car, forgot it was there, and drove somewhere, causing it to land somewhere we weren't able to find it.)
Marie's gift from me and Mom was a bit more intricate. Like, when Mom and Dad took that sewing class a few months ago, Mom made this bag of sorts, and the red-and-yellow color scheme reminded someone of Ronald McDonald. Just the other day as we were leaving Costco, she got the idea to get Marie a McDonald's gift card, and I got the idea of getting her a Trump book to go with it, given Trump's taste for McDonald's. She hopped into the nearby Savers store, and got this book called Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, written by his niece Mary who hates him just like we do. That, she decided to wrap in some hamburger wrappers that she picked up at the restaurant near the airport, but she was also supposed to pick up some apple strudels and chocolate chip cookies while she was there.
For Mom, I had purchased a whole season of the next show I plan on watching with her. Get this, though, there was no option to buy the whole season, so I had to buy each episode individually, and I was twice stopped from buying any further episodes through Brian's payment method the TV is set to. The second time around, I heard the mail stop by, went out to retrieve it, and gave Brian $30 in cash to compensate him, and that's when he realized I was the one making those purchases, which it turns out he originally chalked up to some kind of breach.
-----
For breakfast this year, we didn't have any Coca-cola, but Marie and Drew had bought me a box of ramune. With six bottles to choose from, I rolled a die, landed 3, and picked out the Original-flavored one based on their position in the box.
At some point, Emily came over, and all of us except our parents decided to have a walk around Cathedral Pines.
For lunch, Marie and Drew decided to stop at Cafe Gia for a slice of pizza each. Marie got cheese, Drew got Buffalo chicken, and I instead got a chicken ceasar breadbowl salad that they expressed some kind of interest in for another time. Marie also mentioned that the pizza here is much better than what's available in California, and I suggested we eat there again next time they're here.
Even though I normally make a point of having soda with pizza, that did come up before we arrived there, and Marie pointed out all that ramune I still have left. I rolled a 1 when we got home, and selected the lychee bottle.
Emily later came back with Hanalei and a box of donuts, so it's a good thing I didn't bother picking out a dessert at Cafe Gia. I picked one out with chocolate frosting, sprinkles, and cream, and the cream felt like it had bits of still-solid sugar crystals in it. I'd like to get another one of those next time we ever get donuts.
Afterwards, as per an idea between me and Marie, I treated Marie and Drew to a mid-season episode of Digimon. Drew says he was always more into Pokemon than Digimon.
I treated them later to one of Pokemon... from season 6, since that's where its character Drew/Shu debuts who came up before between us. Suffice to say, they didn't recognize most Pokemon that appeared in that episode, and Marie suggested we watch a season 1 episode at some point.
Drew commented on how much more of a plot Pokemon seemed to him to have than Digimon, but didn't explain where he was coming from before I begged to differ and showed the two of them the middle of this old entry, which didn't take very long to re-find while they were getting ready to head back down.
Mom also suggested during dinner that they also check out Made In Abyss, which she and I had just finished the first season of the other night.
-----
Didn't get to do much about Upwork or Unity with Brian, given how busy we all were yesterday, but I did get to show Marie and Drew some of my business exchanges that Brian had expressed concerns last month over, complete with a summary of a much more successful deal so far and a conclusion I had drawn up so far. They have agreed to go over some terms I went on to add to one of my job post drafts, and Brian has agreed to help me word everything in such a way as to close loopholes, although I am going today to prioritize him with an issue I've been having in Unity, since he took much longer than I expected two days ago to draft something up for someone currently creating maps for Starbound.
I was the first one up, and put all the Christmas lights on while it was still dark. While the tree was at its prettiest, I decided to gather everyone up, starting with Marie and Drew. Having had left my phone up in the apartment where they were sleeping, I gave it a ring in an attempt to draw them down from the loft, but it didn't work before I simply went up there myself. They did find it rather amusing, though, to be hearing part of the song from New Game!, which at some point later I offered to pick up from the library next time they arrive.
Marie did ask what time it was, though, and promised to wake up 15 minutes from there. Mom and Aunt Marie woke up on their own, so Dad and Brian were the last ones up.
-----
Among other things, I got a new laptop that I'm trying out by typing this entry on, and the following manga:
-Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc, volume 3
-Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, v. 3
-Tokyo Mew Mew, v. 4 and 5
-Zodiac P.I., v. 4
For my gifts to everyone else, I got Dad a new rake, and Aunt Marie a magnetic string of beads that can be worn as a necklace or bracelet. Got Brian a new copy of Limbo, because he came so close last year to finishing it for himself before losing it. (We've assumed this whole time that he placed it on our car, forgot it was there, and drove somewhere, causing it to land somewhere we weren't able to find it.)
Marie's gift from me and Mom was a bit more intricate. Like, when Mom and Dad took that sewing class a few months ago, Mom made this bag of sorts, and the red-and-yellow color scheme reminded someone of Ronald McDonald. Just the other day as we were leaving Costco, she got the idea to get Marie a McDonald's gift card, and I got the idea of getting her a Trump book to go with it, given Trump's taste for McDonald's. She hopped into the nearby Savers store, and got this book called Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, written by his niece Mary who hates him just like we do. That, she decided to wrap in some hamburger wrappers that she picked up at the restaurant near the airport, but she was also supposed to pick up some apple strudels and chocolate chip cookies while she was there.
For Mom, I had purchased a whole season of the next show I plan on watching with her. Get this, though, there was no option to buy the whole season, so I had to buy each episode individually, and I was twice stopped from buying any further episodes through Brian's payment method the TV is set to. The second time around, I heard the mail stop by, went out to retrieve it, and gave Brian $30 in cash to compensate him, and that's when he realized I was the one making those purchases, which it turns out he originally chalked up to some kind of breach.
-----
For breakfast this year, we didn't have any Coca-cola, but Marie and Drew had bought me a box of ramune. With six bottles to choose from, I rolled a die, landed 3, and picked out the Original-flavored one based on their position in the box.
At some point, Emily came over, and all of us except our parents decided to have a walk around Cathedral Pines.
For lunch, Marie and Drew decided to stop at Cafe Gia for a slice of pizza each. Marie got cheese, Drew got Buffalo chicken, and I instead got a chicken ceasar breadbowl salad that they expressed some kind of interest in for another time. Marie also mentioned that the pizza here is much better than what's available in California, and I suggested we eat there again next time they're here.
Even though I normally make a point of having soda with pizza, that did come up before we arrived there, and Marie pointed out all that ramune I still have left. I rolled a 1 when we got home, and selected the lychee bottle.
Emily later came back with Hanalei and a box of donuts, so it's a good thing I didn't bother picking out a dessert at Cafe Gia. I picked one out with chocolate frosting, sprinkles, and cream, and the cream felt like it had bits of still-solid sugar crystals in it. I'd like to get another one of those next time we ever get donuts.
Afterwards, as per an idea between me and Marie, I treated Marie and Drew to a mid-season episode of Digimon. Drew says he was always more into Pokemon than Digimon.
I treated them later to one of Pokemon... from season 6, since that's where its character Drew/Shu debuts who came up before between us. Suffice to say, they didn't recognize most Pokemon that appeared in that episode, and Marie suggested we watch a season 1 episode at some point.
Drew commented on how much more of a plot Pokemon seemed to him to have than Digimon, but didn't explain where he was coming from before I begged to differ and showed the two of them the middle of this old entry, which didn't take very long to re-find while they were getting ready to head back down.
Mom also suggested during dinner that they also check out Made In Abyss, which she and I had just finished the first season of the other night.
-----
Didn't get to do much about Upwork or Unity with Brian, given how busy we all were yesterday, but I did get to show Marie and Drew some of my business exchanges that Brian had expressed concerns last month over, complete with a summary of a much more successful deal so far and a conclusion I had drawn up so far. They have agreed to go over some terms I went on to add to one of my job post drafts, and Brian has agreed to help me word everything in such a way as to close loopholes, although I am going today to prioritize him with an issue I've been having in Unity, since he took much longer than I expected two days ago to draft something up for someone currently creating maps for Starbound.