Yesterday (Monday) was what we in these here parts call "Early Christmas." Every year (see 2005, 2004) Carrie & I, usually with Melissa and Travis, take the Lareau kids outta the house to do some sort of activity so their parents can shop for them in peace. Then after feeding them we bring them back to the house and everyone exchanges gifts.
This year was no different. At 6:00 we met the kids and Melissa & Travis at Tower Lanes. They have a miniature golf course inside the building, so we could all enjoy a game of it even though it was barely above freezing outside. 'Twas actually a lot of fun, although with seven of us playing it took nearly a full two hours to play the 18-hole course. By the time we were done everybody was absolutely STARVING.
We took Sophie while Mel took the boys, and we all met up again at Red Robin, where we were so hungy we ordered three appetizers as well as regular meals. It's been a while since I've been at a Red Robin, and they had a new burger (new to me at least): the Burger Parmiagana. It was a burger that had basically a circular piece of breaded, fried cheese on top. Then some marinara sauce and some Parmesan cheese on top of that. It was enormous, and it was a complete mess. Tasty, but nearly impossible to actually eat. I took half of it home.
But before that we all went to the Lareau Household for hot cocoa and presents. Here's the rundown of what people got (and from whom):
- Trevor:
- A framed Robot & Bird #3 (me)
- A T-shirt with pictures of Mario through the years, from Donkey Kong all the way to Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Carrie)
- A T-shirt with a World of Warcraft joke on it: "Level ?? Humanoid" (Melissa & Travis)
- A T-shirt with pictures of Mario through the years, from Donkey Kong all the way to Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Carrie)
- Julian:
- A framed Robot & Bird #2 (me)
- A 1-Up Mushroom T-shirt (Carrie)
- A World of Warcraft Shirt: "Home is where the Hearthstone is" (Melissa & Travis)
- A 1-Up Mushroom T-shirt (Carrie)
- Sophia:
- A shirt and skirt outfite (me & Carrie)
- ?? (Melissa & Travis)
- Mark:
- A Cheese Ball with Crackers (Carrie)
- A six-pack of Stella Artois beer & two Artois glasses (me)
- Fancy caramels (Melissa & Travis)
- A six-pack of Stella Artois beer & two Artois glasses (me)
- Viki:
- A necklace and some mega-hoop earrings (Carrie & me)
- Two fancy coffee-table books about fancy & expensive shoes (Melissa & Travis)
- Carrie:
- A Julia Sweeny CD thing (Melissa & Travis).
- Me:
- A $20 gift certificate to a pop-culture store in here Tacoma that I'd never heard of, but is apparently right up my alley (Melissa & Travis)
- Carrie & Me together:
- A gift certificate for three 4-hour cleaning visits from a maid service (Mark & Viki).
Whew! I think that's it.
I also brought a present for Brandy, because she was originally supposed to join us all. But she got an extension on her final, so instead of staying up all night after the Christmas party she decided to sleep and then do her final the next day (yesterday). Much more sensible on her part. We'll have to give her present to her some other time (I'm sure there'll be opportunities).
It was nearly midnight by the time we got back home. We were both exhausted and I had the beginnings of a massive headache, so I took some Tylenol and read in bed (the reading actually helped distract me from the pain). After the headache went down some (after about an hour) I played a little Animal Crossing and fell asleep.
Labels: Life
