mahna mahna

Merry Christmas! I had a delightful holiday, thanks for asking. It did require getting up at 6:50am, which is far too early, but that was necessary if I wanted to shower and make coffee before going to my parents' house for our approximate usual start time. [Censored] and I made it there almost on time, and we all spent a leisurely couple of hours unwrapping presents. Many fine gifts were given and received, and I'm happy with what I got - mostly a mix of cooking-related items, fountain pen items, and a couple of rogue games from [censored].

After we opened presents, my mom made brunch - we had the usual breakfast casserole and blueberry muffins, plus some delicious ambrosia that Dad put together yesterday. Then, we took a brief break - [censored] and Mom went to town on an errand, and I went to my house and took a brief-but-necessary fifteen minute nap. I also grabbed the twice baked potatoes that I made yesterday as my contribution to tonight's meal. And then I went back to my parents' house, where...

...we played one of the games [censored] gave me, which is called CAMEL UP. It looks a little odd and gimmicky since it has a pop-up 3-d palm tree and the dice are dispensed by a pyramid. However, we discovered that it's actually a ton of fun - just enough strategy to feel interesting, but a lot of random luck to keep things fresh. We played three games, and [censored], Dad, and I split the wins, which was much more distributed than when [censored] wins 80% of Ticket to Ride games in a season. So, it was pretty fun and I would definitely play it again if I can convince everyone else to.

Then we had dinner - Mom made brisket, which we ate with twice baked potatoes + leftover layered lettuce and apricot salad from yesterday. And then [censored] and I came to my house since the weather was getting much colder and it seemed like we might get some freezing precipitation. At this point, I am almost on the verge of a second wind, but I think I should go to sleep before I allow that to happen. Goodnight!