just find a place to make your stand and take it easy

I should have gone to bed awhile ago because today was pretty tiring, but I caught a second wind (as usual) around eight and so powered through until now. But despite the tiring nature of the day, it was really good. [Censored] and I left the house around 8:40am to head south, since we had a date with my mom's sister for lunch. Aunt Dee lives near St. Louis, and her daughter Moriah was home for the holidays, so we met halfway - which meant eating at a random restaurant in Moberly, Missouri.

So, [censored] drove and I was a kind and delightful passenger for 2.5 hours. We got to Moberly slightly early, which was good - it rained almost the entire way, which made for delay potentials, but [censored] got us there with no issues. I was the one who booked the restaurant, which was a little nervewracking - it's hard to choose an appropriate restaurant where 12 people can sit together, where everyone can enjoy the food, and where they can accommodate my dad and my sister's mobility issues. I was hoping to just take care of the seating/mobility things and was hoping for the best on the food, but we were all thoroughly surprised and delighted. The place (D'Abolengo, for my own future posterity) was legitimately excellent - my enchiladas were covered in a perfect pork/sauce/queso mix, and the dish was one of the tastiest things I've had in awhile.

It was also good to see the family - it's very rare for us to get together since Mo lives in Florida, and I had actually never met her husband even though they've been married for a few years. So, my parents, [censored] and I were there, as were my sister and her husband, my niece and her husband, and Aunt Dee, Mo, Jaime, and Eli. The only person missing was my other cousin Jordan, who had to work -- and my sister's other two kids, but that would have doubled the size of the group with all of their various offspring, so it's probably for the best that they couldn't make it.

Anyway, we had an excellent time catching up, and it was lovely to see them all. Eventually, we parted ways, and [censored] and I made the 2.5 trip home, with a couple of quick stops to buy tings. A five hour round trip is a long way for lunch, but it was #worthit.

We were wiped out when we got home, though, so I messed around on my phone for a long time and came v. close to napping on the couch. I eventually rallied, did some kitchen tasks, ate some leftover Mexican food (from the local Mexican place, which I had for lunch a couple of days ago), and then painted my toenails and fingernails while listening to a couple of podcasts. And now I need to sleep since we have more Christmas plans tomorrow - goodnight!