T'was the Night Before...

What a great couple of days of the start of vacation. So relaxing.

Yesterday was, of course, Festivus (for the rest of us), a made up American holiday as seen on the TV show, Seinfeld. Here is a short clip of the episode, which explains all of the facets of the holiday.

Here in Rhode Island we don't have a crawl space to store an aluminum pole, nor do we participate in the "Airing of Grievances" or the "Feats of Strength". Those we save for the Costanza family. Instead I celebrated by cleaning up the apartment, doing laundry, and packing for my two weeks at home. I took the train from Back Bay (I arrived with enough time to eat a muffin before our departure), and arrived an hour later in Providence. I know in other posts I've bragged about my amazing packing capabilities, but this time I forgot my tooth brush. Fail.

We had grinders for dinner, and my mom and I ate almost a whole bag of chips "because they were there". Then I went to meet a friend for drinks and learned that Bailey's has .05% lactose in it, and being lactose intolerant that is very important information...so I can have as many espresso and chocolate martinis as I want! (well...in moderation of course).

I also learned about this creepy little video game fact: Japanese video game music composer, Kazumi Totaka, has hidden a signature melody in some of his video games. And it's really creepy.

Being Christmas Eve, and by the way, it's snowing right now (although it will probably turn to rain tomorow), I have already eaten myself into a food coma, and received a few gifts. My family opens the majority of our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, since that's when our family gets together. We started the late afternoon with a huge Christmas Eve dinner, consisting of baked shrimp, green bean casserole, carrots, buns, and baked stuffed potatoes.

Yummy.

Then we opened up our presents. My grandma started this awesome tradition of getting all the girls something, and all the guys something. It started a few years ago when all the guys got warm fur winter hats. The next year, all the girls got warm furry hats. This year, all the guys got some really nice warm socks that you can wear in boots, and the girls got pajama pants. We proceeded to wear them on our heads. 

Lookin' like a fool with our pants on our heads...

My night also had an awesome surprise, as one of my very good friends from the Dominican Republic video called me! One of the sweetest girls I've ever met, and she called me to say Merry Christmas! It got a little weird when my uncle tried to speak Spanish to her, but it was hilarious and a good time. 

My brother and I finished up the night by making a stop to see my dad before heading home. We had a drink and caught up, which was really great, and well overdue. 

On our way home, it started snowing, and it was the perfect end to our Christmas Eve. 

Merry Christmas everyone!