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Merry Christmas, Happy New Year everyone :)
On Christmas Day I had to work. Despite that, I did get to treat myself to one of my homemade cinnamon rolls. Hot damn, they are good! I'm very proud of how they turned out.
Working on Xmas Day wouldn't have been so bad, except we had another system crash that caused us to be unable to end calls for someone if they needed to, say, use the restroom, or had been on a call for over an hour. It was very anxiety-inducing to see calls for help coming in and not being able to do anything about it. This is the second or third time this has happened. It would be really great if it would never happen again.
That aside, it was a pretty normal day. After work I came home to find that Jameson had prepped everything for dinner, everything!! The beef tenderloin, the roasted brussels, and the crescent rolls :) He did an amazing job, especially with that beef...damn, it is so good. If you don't like red meat, look away. We don't like to ruin a beautiful cut with overcooking.
After dinner we opened presents! I felt very spoiled by the number of presents under our tree.
My sister Raven sent us a very expensive(!) bottle of champagne and a bottle of rye whiskey, Sara Bareilles audiobook for Jameson, and a whole lot of stuff for me including socks, strange and interesting snacks, and a subscription to Tokyo Treats!! ARRRGH we have so much candy in the house already but I have to admit, I'm still very excited to get a surprise box of snacks every month for a while! I am DEFINITELY spoiled!
My brother Jonah hand-painted a backpack for me with the "This Is Fine" dog on it! I freaking love it, but it is NOT going outside in Florida until I get it waterproofed!!
He also got me a beautiful chai tea assortment. I love spicy and sweet teas, so this was right up my alley!
I think that Raven, Jonah and Jameson must have coordinated my gifts this year, because there were tie-ins with Rick and Morty and also with tea :) Raven got me this weird Pickle Rick seltzer (which I kept drinking even after deciding I didn't like it, for unknown reasons) and Jameson got me a Morty chia pet! I've never had a chia pet before and am excited to try growing it! Jonah got me the chai tea assortment, and Jameson got me a beautiful double-ended glass tea tumbler! Great collaborations guys! (I don't think they did it on purpose but cool how that worked out!)
Another present that I accidentally opened early was this amazing Ainu-themed scarf from my sister Kate.
It's very rare to find Ainu-anything represented anywhere in the world. When I first opened the box I couldn't figure out why anyone would send me a scarf/bandana, and was mystified until I saw this tiny symbol at one corner and instantly knew it had to be from one of my siblings. It's the Ainu flag.
The full pattern features an Ainu woman with tribal tattoos. Like I said, I don't wear scarves or bandanas really, so I'll have to come up with another way to proudly display this. Of course none of us are full Ainu, and I think most people would say we don't look Asian (Kate got most of those looks with her long dark hair, dark eyes, and cute little Asian build). But the fact is that a quarter of your DNA is actually a pretty large slice, whether it shows on the outside or not. We're not going around saying, "I'm 1/28th Native American" and acting like that entitles us to a connection with that culture. We've simply done the research, taken the DNA tests, and know what is in our bloodlines on the maternal side. One day I hope to visit Hokkaido and find out more. But until then, it's nice to be reminded of our distant roots, and see that Ainu culture does occasionally find a place in the modern world.
After opening those presents we jumped into a video chat with my parents and the O'Malley-side siblings. It was great to see Kayle, very pregnant but looking healthy and happy, Kate just on the start of her pregnancy and excited and nervous about it, My parents smiling and looking happy with themselves for getting us TOO MUCH as usual! This year, it's just good to see everyone's smiling faces. Presents are whatever.
In addition to a huge box of candy and other treats, my parents got us a gift card for Omaha Steaks! I'm excited to make some exceptional meals using this gift. We don't have a grill, but we do have a lot of lovely accessories to make some incredible meat dishes. Looking forward to it!
Although we couldn't be together for the holiday, it was a very nice Christmas. I'm grateful that we could still see each other and make time for each other.
( Read more... )
On Christmas Day I had to work. Despite that, I did get to treat myself to one of my homemade cinnamon rolls. Hot damn, they are good! I'm very proud of how they turned out.
Working on Xmas Day wouldn't have been so bad, except we had another system crash that caused us to be unable to end calls for someone if they needed to, say, use the restroom, or had been on a call for over an hour. It was very anxiety-inducing to see calls for help coming in and not being able to do anything about it. This is the second or third time this has happened. It would be really great if it would never happen again.
That aside, it was a pretty normal day. After work I came home to find that Jameson had prepped everything for dinner, everything!! The beef tenderloin, the roasted brussels, and the crescent rolls :) He did an amazing job, especially with that beef...damn, it is so good. If you don't like red meat, look away. We don't like to ruin a beautiful cut with overcooking.
After dinner we opened presents! I felt very spoiled by the number of presents under our tree.
My sister Raven sent us a very expensive(!) bottle of champagne and a bottle of rye whiskey, Sara Bareilles audiobook for Jameson, and a whole lot of stuff for me including socks, strange and interesting snacks, and a subscription to Tokyo Treats!! ARRRGH we have so much candy in the house already but I have to admit, I'm still very excited to get a surprise box of snacks every month for a while! I am DEFINITELY spoiled!
My brother Jonah hand-painted a backpack for me with the "This Is Fine" dog on it! I freaking love it, but it is NOT going outside in Florida until I get it waterproofed!!
He also got me a beautiful chai tea assortment. I love spicy and sweet teas, so this was right up my alley!
I think that Raven, Jonah and Jameson must have coordinated my gifts this year, because there were tie-ins with Rick and Morty and also with tea :) Raven got me this weird Pickle Rick seltzer (which I kept drinking even after deciding I didn't like it, for unknown reasons) and Jameson got me a Morty chia pet! I've never had a chia pet before and am excited to try growing it! Jonah got me the chai tea assortment, and Jameson got me a beautiful double-ended glass tea tumbler! Great collaborations guys! (I don't think they did it on purpose but cool how that worked out!)
Another present that I accidentally opened early was this amazing Ainu-themed scarf from my sister Kate.
It's very rare to find Ainu-anything represented anywhere in the world. When I first opened the box I couldn't figure out why anyone would send me a scarf/bandana, and was mystified until I saw this tiny symbol at one corner and instantly knew it had to be from one of my siblings. It's the Ainu flag.
The full pattern features an Ainu woman with tribal tattoos. Like I said, I don't wear scarves or bandanas really, so I'll have to come up with another way to proudly display this. Of course none of us are full Ainu, and I think most people would say we don't look Asian (Kate got most of those looks with her long dark hair, dark eyes, and cute little Asian build). But the fact is that a quarter of your DNA is actually a pretty large slice, whether it shows on the outside or not. We're not going around saying, "I'm 1/28th Native American" and acting like that entitles us to a connection with that culture. We've simply done the research, taken the DNA tests, and know what is in our bloodlines on the maternal side. One day I hope to visit Hokkaido and find out more. But until then, it's nice to be reminded of our distant roots, and see that Ainu culture does occasionally find a place in the modern world.
After opening those presents we jumped into a video chat with my parents and the O'Malley-side siblings. It was great to see Kayle, very pregnant but looking healthy and happy, Kate just on the start of her pregnancy and excited and nervous about it, My parents smiling and looking happy with themselves for getting us TOO MUCH as usual! This year, it's just good to see everyone's smiling faces. Presents are whatever.
In addition to a huge box of candy and other treats, my parents got us a gift card for Omaha Steaks! I'm excited to make some exceptional meals using this gift. We don't have a grill, but we do have a lot of lovely accessories to make some incredible meat dishes. Looking forward to it!
Although we couldn't be together for the holiday, it was a very nice Christmas. I'm grateful that we could still see each other and make time for each other.
( Read more... )
