Christmas was pretty good this year! For the first time in three years, Jonathan and I actually got to spend Christmas together, which was really nice. We were in Ohio for break, and my family came into town in waves, which was sort of an interesting but fun experience! Here’s the recap of Christmas week:
Weds, Dec 21:
Of course Alysha and I still had Christmas shopping to do, so we shopped, shopped, shopped! Then she had planned a nice evening together for my birthday! We ordered Chinese from our fav Chinese restaurant, and had a game night with my mom! We popped open the copy of Scattergories that Alysha got me for Christmas (yeah, I opened it early, my bad..hehe) and had a hilarious time playing it. I highly recommend this game for people who like word games! It’s one of my favorites! Then we played Phase 10 while watching Top Chef Texas. It was a fabulous way to celebrate my birthday! 🙂
Thurs, Dec 22
Another Alysha day! And of course, more shopping! (Were you really expecting anything else???) We went on a hunt for dressers that took us to the antique district in Lebanon, and to Ikea in Cincinnati. This was my first Ikea experience, and it was so much fun! Alysha ended up with fabulous dressers and I ended up with a hodgepodge of random and cute items including candles and a note book. By the way, Alysha, don’t forget to water your orchid!
Fri, Dec 23:
Alysha left because she’s a working woman now. So I met up with Dylan, Randal, Nichole, and Jonathan for lunch at Chappy’s.
I’m pretty sure I had an allergic reaction to the food, because around 1 oclock my throat started hurting really bad, and by 7 oclock, it had stopped completely. At the time, I thought I was just getting sick. But I don’t think you can recover from strep in 6 hours! Then we went home, and watched the movie Morning Glory while we waited for Dad to get home. He got in in the early evening. Jonathan went to take his little brother, Curtis, Christmas shopping and I got to have some good quality time with my Dad. We went shopping and then came home, and Mom made chicken curry and I added green beans to it (much to my Daddy’s chagrin.. hehe). Having mom’s curry tasted so good! I need to figure out how to make it the way she makes it! Then we convinced Daddy to play phase 10 for the rest of the evening.
Sat, Dec 24:
I got to spend the day shopping with Daddy and having more quality time. We did manage to procure a turkey, and all the fixings for Christmas dinner! In the evening, we went out to dinner at Red Lobster, and it was a lot of fun. I also bought a funny hat from Old Navy and wore it out to dinner.
We ordered lobster pizza as an appetizer, and then Mom, Dad, and I all ordered steak and lobster combos. Really, we should have ordered two combos for the three of us, but nobody wanted to share their lobster so we ordered way too much! Jonathan got the tilapia, which I tasted and I actually liked! I hate fish, but I am starting to broaden my taste!
Sun, Dec 25th:
I spent the morning and early afternoon with Jonathan’s family. We had so much fun opening gifts and the playing Cooking Scrabble (which was one of our presents from his parents). If you haven’t played Cooking Scrabble, it’s a really fun take on Scrabble. You get cards that give you options to do funny things. For example, you can play a microwave card, which doubles your score on your word if you can play your word in under 15 seconds. There is also a wine pairing card, which, when played, allows you combine letters with another player to form two words, and you each get half of the total points. So it’s Scrabble to the next level! I highly recommend it for anyone who likes word games!
spencer, the dog also got festive…
Somehow, when I took the picture his eyes came out scary!
In the afternoon, I left Jonathan to spend some time with his brother, and I went with my dad to pick up my older sister and her husband from the airport. That evening, we ate a delicious Christmas dinner of turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, roasted vegetables, sweet potato casserole, dinner rolls, and of course, pie! Then we spent the rest of the evening playing Phase 10. All evening my Mom kept saying I was channeling my younger sister, Alysha, by the way I was acting. (I really missed having her with us!). For example, at one point, Jonathan was eating a turkey leg, and I was like, “EW, that is so gross!” (Alysha is a vegetarian). Anyway, we missed her. And since we missed her while she was working the night away, we postponed present opening to…
Mon, Dec 26
We loaded up three cars with Alysha’s stuff, and headed to Columbus, which is an hour and a half drive from Centerville. Saira rode in my car, so it was nice to get a bit of quality time with her, too! We made it to Columbus, unloaded all of our stuff, and then set up presents under the tree! Then a quick brunch of Taco Bell/Pizza Hut Express, cinnamon rolls, and sparkling cider. Then, onto the opening extravaganza! I think everyone enjoyed their presents, and it was a lot of fun! I definitely enjoyed mine. 🙂 After that, Saira, Alysha and I played Ticket to Ride (my present to Saira) and then I had to leave. 😦 So sad!
I drove back to Centerville, swung by the house to get a few things I had forgotten, swung by Jonathan’s house to get him, and we started the long drive to St. Louis. We stopped at a Steak N Shake for dinner and had a quick sit down dinner instead of eating in the car because I was feeling very sad and lonely about leaving my family.
At one point, however, the high way was shut down and we got detoured through a small town, and getting to STL took way longer than it usually does, so that was exhausting and a bummer.
But here I am, back in STL safe and sound. When we got in last night, it was raining like crazy, and when we woke up this morning there was a heavy layer of snow on the ground. How did that happen?? Guess I should think about shoveling…
Tags: Alysha, family, holidays, product review
Sash Around the Clock 