Holiday Tales

Yay! My Our camera has been ordered! It should be here in the longest 3-5 days ever. My parents gave me Jas and me money toward the purchase of it, and I (yeah, just I) couldn’t possibly be more excited. (SEE? Gift cards and cash are WONDERFUL!) Of course, now I have to get memory cards, and a case, and a tripod, and a book, and all kinds of other things. But I’ll probably wait on everything but the memory cards until after Christmas. Jas has already staked his claim on the old camera so he can take pictures of the junk he sells on ebay. Have at it buddy!

The family Hanukkah torture session celebration was at my parents house last Saturday night. I think I was there for maybe 15 minutes before my head started pounding. We’re such a loud people. It doesn’t help that half the elders can’t hear at all, so anyone talking to them needs to shout. And since some people are shouting, other people start shouting to be heard about the first shouters. It’s grand, I tell you. Dinner was mediocre at best. El Pollo Loco chicken, salad, and latkes. Bleh. The salad was alright, and I choked down some chicken, just so I wouldn’t pass out from hunger (I had to drown it in ranch dressing to get past the taste). I hate latkes. They’re just disgusting. We all joke that this comes from my non-Jew blood (thanks Dad!), but I really can’t see how anyone can like them. Especially when the person making the batter forgets (or just refuses) to put in a little lemon so the potatoes don’t turn grey. It looks like sludge to me. Therefore the latkes come out looking like fried sludge. Ew.

Of course, after dinner came the annual argument. Our extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) decided a couple of years ago to stop getting each other gifts, and instead donate the money to a charity. I like the idea. A) It saves me from trying to figure out what my 2nd cousin’s husband wants for Hanukkah, when I see him maybe three times a year, and exchange 12 words at best. B) It’s for a good cause. Naturally, being the close-knit family that we are (I couldn’t even type that with a straight face), we can never agree on anything. Lots of worthy and not-so-worthy causes were suggested. Lots of yelling, and disagreeing, and pouting ensued. Votes were cast and counted, and then re-cast and counted. Finally we settled on the American Cancer Society, which cracks me up because we’ve chosen them for the last 3 years.  All that fuss and fanfare just to choose the same place as before. Aren’t we brilliant?

Yesterday, I spent the day recovering from my overdose of family. I took a nap, read a book, played online, and did nothing productive until after 6pm. I made brownies (SO yummy), did some light shopping, and bought the Sunday paper so I could start clipping coupons. I was a little disappointed in the lack of coupon selection in our papers. Maybe my memory is faulty, but it seems like there were tons in there when I was a kid. Maybe I’m just getting the wrong paper. My next plan, in my never-ending quest to stretch money as far as possible, is to check those online sites for coupons to use. I’m a little hesitant, since they look like they’re a little fake and possibly full of spyware and junk mail. But since Jason has decided to quit his bartendng job without finding another job to replace it, I’m in a bit of a pinch. If any of you have any suggestions for a reputable coupon dispensing website, I’d love to hear it!