Friday, Night 1
Well, today we celebrated Thanksgiving
with my mother's parents. They don't travel too much and my grandma can't
deal with all the cooking anymore, so we went up early and made the turkey
and everything in her kitchen. Big bird, just short of 15 pounds (6.8 kilos).
We got two whole boxes of stuffing into it, which is good, because we always
fight over the stuffing.
Anyway, that turkey was in the oven nearly
seven hours, so we had a whole afternoon to waste. We talked some, my sister
used the computer, I worked on my college application essays. My brother
and I played a game of chess, and I nearly had him, but then he won. Bah.
Then we all watched "Dead Poets' Society".
Okay, so here's dinner. It's good, and
whatever. There's cake and everything, and for each of us...
+A bag of gelt (chocolate coins).
+$30 (US, duh).
And then we went home.
Now, here's how it works. My brother and
sister and I get 8 little tickets redeemable for presents. Each night we
give one to Dad, and he brings back a cardboard box with something in it.
This year my sister and I have two shared presents. And my brother is going
back to college tomorrow, so he had to take all his presents tonight.
I picked #3, which was...
+A funky piggy bank. Put a coin in the
horse's mouth, pull the level, and he jumps the fence and throws the coin
down the hole.
+A scratch-and-win lottery ticket, worth
$4.
So that was cool. My sister got a new chess set, and we played a game, and I had her cornered, and then she did something so stupid I didn't catch it, and then she won. Bah. Then she played my brother, and cheated a lot, and managed to get checkmated three times in one game. :P
Saturday, Night 2
Today my brother went back to school, because he had work to do. So he packed up his stuff and we all went to visit my dad's mom. For each of us she had...
+A card, made with a computer program that
she can't quite figure out.
+A bag of gelt.
+A check for a generous amount (not telling
how much).
So we hung out for an hour, and then we
got in the car and drove. Now, at my brother's campus they've just opened
a picture book museum, so we went there, and it was kinda interesting.
And then we went out to dinner, and dropped my brother off, and drove home.
We lit the menorahs, and sang the prayers,
and it was very pretty.
Tonight I redeemed shared present #8,
which turned out to be...
+A losing lottery ticket.
+A piece of paper with a picture of a
computer, the words "Get Bigger", and a larger picture of a computer.
So my sister and I were staring at our pictures, and I say, "Um...bigger monitors?" And Dad tells us to go downstairs, where we find...
+Two big cardboard boxes, containing new 19" (48.26 cm) monitors.
Mom and Dad then tried to convince us that
those boxes had been there for two weeks. Nice try.
So Dad hooks them up, and now I can use
the computer and See More Stuff. ^_^
Then I went upstairs and had yesterday's
gelt. It was good.
Sunday, Night 3
Today we actually stayed home, so I got some stuff done. In the evening I picked present #5, which was...
+A big encyclopedia of North American birds.
Yay!
+Another losing lottery ticket.
Then I had yesterday's gelt. (Er, yes. Again.) And I looked at the introduction of the book. Good stuff, and lots of it. :)
Monday, Night 4
Today is my mom's birthday, so we went out to dinner at a little Italian place that isn't far at all, but for some reason we've never been there before. It was good, we should go back sometime. At home, we lit Hannukah candles, and also one birthday candle, which Mom blew out. We let her open her presents first. I took present #6, which was...
+An IOU-type-thing for a keychain. The
link on the note goes here,
but I think I'll get the cat keychain instead.
+Yet another losing lottery ticket.
Tuesday, Night 5
A rather uneventful day. Just candles and presents. #4 was...
+A grey sweatshirt with a cartoony picture
of a black and white cat laying on a stack of books. It says "books. cats.
life is good." So cute. ^_^
+Another losing lottery ticket for my
collection.
Wednesday, Night 6
Now, yesterday I cleaned out my closet and found some gift boxes with clothes that someone must have given me several years ago. At the time, I would never thought of wearing stuff like *that*. But I look at it now and say, hey, that's pretty cool. So this morning I tried them on, and it all fits, so I have...
+A long pair of pajamas.
+A complete outfit.
+A nifty short-sleeve shirt.
+A groovy pair of pants, which I'm wearing
right now.
Awesome what you find when you clean up.
:)
No one was really home much tonight, so
no candles or presents.
Thursday, Night 7
Today it snowed, about five inches. In the morning I went to work at the animal shelter. The roads were pretty bad on the way home. I spent most of the afternoon staying warm in the basement. Later I helped my dad shovel out our cars. After dinner we lit candles and opened presents. Tonight I picked #1, which was...
+A page-a-day calendar of German words
and phrases. Unfortunately, it's sixteen-months, so I'm already behind.
:/
+An addition to my losing lottery ticket
collection.
Friday, Night 8
A nice, non-eventful day. We lit all nine candles on our menorahs, and got our last presents. That was #2 and #7, which were...
+A box of magnetic cat poetry.
+Groovy new computer chairs for me, my
sister, and my mom.
+Two lottery tickets. One was a loser,
but the other was worth...nothing. Oh well.
Friday, December 12 (Night 15??)
Well, today a package came in the mail, from my terminally late friend who knows who she is. ^_^ She sent...
+Red fuzzy dice for my car.
+A blue t-shirt with a horse and some
words.
And finally, I think that's the end of Hannukah 2002. :)