It’s officially Christmas and much of our holiday fun is over already. On Friday, we had our 6th Annual Christmas Party with the usual food, drinks, and sucky gift exchange. It was so nice to see everyone together in one place again. Over the years, we’ve gotten older and wiser but we’ve all managed to stay the same. This also goes for the exchange gifts. This year the theme was “something shiny” and boy oh boy did the gifts suck…as usual. Why is it that every year we end up with some martini glasses or a shaker regardless of the theme? I don’t remember any of us really enjoying martinis and yet they keep coming. Some of the funny gifts include rolls of coins worth the requisite $25, a shiny vibrator, lots of items from Crate & Barrel that included a gift receipt, and a couple of obvious re-gifts such as a Homedics rain something. We’re going to have to revamp this gift exchange thing. If anyone has a suggestion, please let me know.

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On Saturday, I went to Fry’s with the Lao brothers to find a couple more gifts to finish off the shopping list. We also managed to find power adapters that we’ll need in order to play with our laptops on the 17-hour flight to Thailand. When we got home, I made cookies and cupcakes for the Christmas dinner while the boys wrapped the presents. The dinner at Uncle Dennis’ house was cool. The food was yummy and the gifts for the exchange were much better than Friday’s. My Homedics rain thingy went to Auntie Cheryl’s mom who looked a little confused when she first opened it but seemed to actually appreciate it. I think it’s in good hands now. I ended up with a really authentic Italian cook book and a DVD of “The Piano”. Jes won some spa towels and Jason won his own gift back.

So now it’s Christmas Day and we don’t have any major plans for today. Before you know it, it will be time to pack up for Thailand and be on our way.