Christmas was at Auntie G’s this year. Christmas breakfast, my cousins and aunts prepared. We watched a little bit of A Christmas Story, a little bit of the Mythbusters marathon, a little bit of horrible infomercial-ish commercials (BUT WAIT!), before the sports fanatics grabbed the TV.

Opened presents around two. I got … Muppets CDs, Muppet Movie, Sherwood Smith books, a book on Japanese bookbinding, and a Linny the Wonder Pet guinea pig beanie doll! hee! Linny was a big hit with L. :P

Afterwards, C and R and my cousin’s husband played Texas Hold’em for $5 each with me as dealer (10% cut which became $5! woot!) and N watched. G (cousin’s husband) won.

Auntie G showed us this game with chips and three dice, and the dice read “L,” “R,” “C,” or nothing. We had to pass our chips around or put them in the center until one person was left with one, the winner. Interesting game.

Then we drove out to my cousin’s house to get Trivial Pursuit. Saw two accidents on the way there! Auntie J, G, R, C, N, and I played. (With Uncle G replacing R when he and his family left.) G would have won, but we kept giving him the sports questions, which he’s horrible at. XD

New Year’s we celebrated today, so that everyone could do whatever they wanted on the first. (Sleep in, visit the other side of the family, go out with friends, or like us, watch the Rose Parade. muahaha!)

Ozoni for breakfast, yum yum! (Forgot to bring my camera to photograph, will have to remember to do that next year.) R played Wario Ware on the Wii some during breakfast, spent 20 minutes trying to get to the beginning of some video game (Okami?). Then the boys and G went off to play Axis & Allies, which I skipped ’cause I didn’t feel up to it. Ended up napping for a while to get rid of some dizziness and a tiny headache.

Most of the females were involved in food preparation for dinner, except for the three youngest. :3 We’re still kids! We can’t cook dinner! haha. But L and I helped with making wonton, and Noellium went to India for a seat was helping with dishes. Also, there probably wouldn’t have been room for us in the kitchen if we had wanted to help. *shrug*

When I wasn’t napping or making wonton, I spent my time on my laptop, catching up on my Livejournal friendslist. I read through over a week’s worth of entries, woohoo!

Dinner was the usual Japanese American fare (although I noticed the lack of small fishies…nothing to bug my other cousin’s husband with *grin*) with the new addition of fried tempura tofu (iffy for me, I don’t know … maybe I would have liked it better with shoyu/soy sauce, not plum sauce). I couldn’t eat everything on my plate, again (for some reason this holiday season I’ve been really bad at judging how much I can eat, argh) so I had to leave good food behind.

After dinner I joined the boys to play Trival Pursuit, 90s edition. I don’t know if it was easier or harder than the other game, the Genus II (not Genius) edition. This time we played teams ’cause there were only four game pieces in the set. Teams: me and C on one team, N and R on another, and G and second-oldest cousin who pretty much grew up in the 80s, so they knew lots more than we did, and they won.

Then we played Apples to Apples, which is really fun! That was the first time I’ve played it, and now I want to buy it. XD Not that I have many opportunities to play with a bunch of people at home. murrr.

I was thinking on the way home…all I’ve got are Monopoly games (about four different versions) and Scrabble. The rest of my family has other versions of Monopoly (can you tell which game we usually end up playing?), a Trivial Pursuit game (one or two editions, can’t remember which), some really old games from the 80s or so (Mastermind, anyone?) … I think we still have the Allowance Game. And Payday. But we got rid of Eat at Ralph’s. ahaha. We might have an I Love Lucy game, or we might have given it away.

Mostly we have video games. Which is all right if you’ve got only four people max for playing…

Well, since New Year’s has just passed, it’s my favorite holiday for the next few months. *grin* But I just realized, except for Easter, there’s a whole long dry spell of holidays where all my relatives get together. That’s no fun! Sometimes we celebrate Independence Day, but we haven’t done that for a few years. Mum says everyone doesn’t really want to bother, because they usually have work the day after.

So I think it’s my mission to create a pseudo-holiday for the family during the summer for us to get together. XD But I’ll only do it if I’m rich, because I don’t really want to cook so I’ll just end up buying food from some place…

Okay, I took stock of what games we have. :D Most of them are my dad’s old games from before he was married.

1. Scrabble (Deluxe Edition)
2. Monopoly Deluxe Edition (2 versions)
3. Monopoly Peanuts
4. Monopoly Star Wars: Episode One
5. Monopoly I Love Lucy
6. Monopoly Star Wars (one opened, one unopened…)
7. Monopoly Dale Earnhardt
8. Monopoly Coca-Cola
9. Monopoly NASCAR?
10. Monopoly Pokemon
11. UCLAopoly
12. Deluxe Bingo
13. Jenga
14. Throw-n-Go Jenga
15. Uno Stacko
16. The Allowance Game
17. Payday
18. Where in the USA Is Carmen Sandiego
19. Rugrats: Turn the House Upside Down
20. Clarissa Explains It All
21. I Love Lucy
22. The Godfather Game
23. Black Box
24. Hi-Q
25. Master Mind
26. Super Master Mind
27. Twixt
28. Rummikub
29. Midway
30. Gettysburg
31. D-Day
32. Fortress America
33. Landslide
34. Electronic Detective
35. Billionaire
36. Fortune 500
37. VCR Quarterback Game
38. 221 B Baker Street
39. Clue
40. Simpsons Clue
41. Game of Knowledge
42. Trivial Pursuit Genus
43. Trivial Pursuit Genus II (’84)
44. Trivial Pursuit 90s Edition
45. Trivial Pursuit featuring Magic of Disney family edition (’86)
46. Trivial Pursuit Silver Screen
47. Trivial Pursuit All-Star Sports
48. Trivial Pursuit Baby Boomer
49. Trivia-Sense Cards

One big difference though is that the videos were much sharper and clearer (or the flaws were more noticeable). Yes, we have a new Sony Bravia XBR something or other, 52″. High definition, widescreen flat panel, with 120 hertz or 120 frames per second. Mr. Magoo never looked so good!

What did we watch? Mickey’s Christmas Carol (with some Goofy and Donald shorts beforehand; this was taped on CBS sometime in the 80s or early 90s), Care Bears Nutcracker (DVD bought last year), Rugrats Hanukah special, Hey Arnold! Christmas, New Doug Christmas, Edith Ann Christmas, and Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (DVD bought last year).

Watching the old tape we have of Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Doug, and Edith Ann specials made me wonder if any of this was on DVD because hey, VHS won’t last forever. Or even the next ten years. (Ooh, some of Hey Arnold! is on DVD[-R]! *adds to must-buy list*)

So I looked up Edith Ann and there really isn’t much out there on the special. It’s mostly about Lily Tomlin. Nothing against her (really, she’s great), but … boo. The Edith Ann special is one of my favorites! It’s … different. But still oddly heart-warming, in its way. *grin*

I want it on DVD! But no one’s done it. Blah. I’ll have to record from the tape and burn to DVD. Snitty quality, but it’s better than nothing. I just have to get my butt in gear and figure out how to make a DVD from a VHS tape. Then I’ll have Edith Ann on DVD for however long DVD-Rs last!

(Should I save the commercials as well? ’96 ads, hmm.)

Let’s start on Saturday. Mum wanted me to help her make the cookies, so I did that. We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (or chocolate chip oatmeal cookies?) with some coconut thrown in ’cause Mum likes that, and “holiday nuggets.” I dunno what they are. ._. They’ve got lots of shortening and butter and sifted powdered sugar and chopped nuts, and they’re covered in powdered sugar. Very good. heehee.

Since Mum was doing other stuff (I forget what), and my elbows are I am so frickin weak, we got N to hold the bowl for me while I stirred everything into dough. ehehe. And since N was sacrificing his time, I thought we should put on some Christmas videos so he wouldn’t be so bored.

We watched Timmy’s Gift (Precious Moments), then It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (saw the first and last Christmas specials on TV last week), then Care Bear’s Nutcracker Suite, I Love Lucy Christmas special, Madeline’s Christmas (that tape’s going bad ;.;), then Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (and an added short that’s on the DVD), then Mickey’s Christmas Carol, then Brand Spanking New Doug Christmas special.

Grandpa’s birthday was the Monday (or Tuesday?) before, so he and Grandma came over for Chinese take-out to celebrate. My great aunt had them over for dinner earlier that week, too. Uncle R couldn’t come Saturday ’cause he had to work. XD So we had good eats. Then Little Women, the 1933 version with Katherine Hepburn, was on, so we watched that. Grandma could name practically all the actors. o.o But then again, I just remembered that she asked me only once where C was. Hmm. It was Grandpa who asked about a dozen times during the movie, “Is that Katherine Hepburn?” *blink*

They left a little while before the movie ended, to pick up Uncle R? So N popped in another tape and he, Mum, Daddy and I watched the Hey Arnold and old Doug and Edith Ann Christmas specials.

Uncle R came over some time that night to give us presents. Yup. He gave N, C, and me gift certificates to McDonald’s and Papa John’s. *makes a face*

At nine Meet Me in St. Louis was on, so Mum and I watched that until 11. ^^ One of my favorite movies, wheee!

Sunday I wrapped my presents to everybody (except N and C ’cause Mum did that for helping her with the cookies), then made the brownies. Mum watched The Homecoming while she made the yams. I like that movie all right, but I guess at my age it just moves too slowly for me. When I’m older I’ll probably enjoy it more. I didn’t watch the whole thing. I left around the time John Boy went to the church. Oh, I guess I went on the computer over the weekend. I talked to Adam, then went to bed at midnight.

Christmas day Mum woke me up at 8:30. I got dressed, opened my Santa present ($15), then we were actually on time and left at 9. *shock* The streets were so empty. XD One of my favorite parts of Christmas. L.A. is so dead! We got to Auntie G’s, unpacked, hung around for breakfast that W88 and Noelle and Auntie made. N and I washed the dishes and Mum dried and put things away. Then we watched C beat my cousin’s husband at Texas hold’em and win $5. XD; Then we opened presents. Noelle liked her present from us. :D It was a $20-bill folded into a ring and it was in a ring box. XDD Noelle W88 and SM00 gave me a Dooney & Bourke wristlet that SM00 picked out. I like it, it’s cute and not ugly like lots of purses out there nowadays, and it’s definitely classy.

W88 got the Axis & Allies boardgame, so the boys and aforementioned cousin’s husband and Uncle G played that. I did the money. Muahahaha, that is my role in (boardgame) life. I finally learned how to play the game. o.o My brothers had played with my dad’s game since elementary school, then W88 has been borrowing it lately, and we never really knew how to play. ahaha. It’s a role-playing game. o.O Gotta roll dice, always roll dice, more and more dice… I’m okay. I’ve just never seen so many dice in one place outside of a game store. I think they got through three rounds of turns. My cousin’s husband said that’s what he did before he and my cousin started dating, play that game. XD He’s one of us!

Sadly, C didn’t know what to do, and W88 didn’t know he had to tell C tactics, so technically the Axis (cous’ hus and Uncle G) was winning when we had to clean up for dinner. Uncle G gained a lot of land, and he had a huge army. N had land, but his resources were thin. C had pretty much the same as at the beginning (oh, plus 6 tanks and no transport XD) and I think W88 had about the same as well. He called me a Nazi ’cause I thought the Axis looked like it would win. booo.

Noelle’s family left after/during dinner (after theirs, during ours, hehe). C had me and N play Big 3 then Egyptian War during/after dinner. Afterwards, I read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. II (from C) some then had dessert and sat around listening to grownups talk while C, N, and second-oldest cousin did the dishes. We left soon after that, ’cause N had to work today, and they were starting up The Devil Wears Prada. ;.; I missed it! I uh, also left my laptop and The Secret Garden there. *furtive glance* I was tired and just wanted to leave. ^^;; Mum picked them up from my second-oldest cousin’s husband today though.

Today I just watched my Monk season 3 DVDs (Mr. Monk and the Blackout, I couldn’t remember who the suspect was ¬.¬) and read volume 7 of Gokinjo Monogatari. Wahh, it’s over! But I really liked the extra chapter! Miwako!! XDDD Although I think I might like Mikako more than Miwako now. >.> Probably just because Mikako was the main character and you could go into her character more, as opposed to Miwako who was just a side character and didn’t get much development compared to Mikako or Yukari. :(

$15 Santa present
Dooney & Bourke wristlet from SM00 Noelle W88
Little Nemo book from Mum and Daddy
The Sandman Companion from N
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. II from C
Maria Mena’s Apparently Unaffected album from “aunts and uncles”
Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor
Wallace & Gromit Curse of the Were-rabbit
Maus
$50 from Auntie G and Uncle H (birthday present o.o)
$50 from Jichan (when did he get the Christmas cards? o.o)
$20 from “the family trust”

Saturday … uhm … I think I didn’t do anything special. Sunday I went with Daddy to the mall. He went to buy cards for New York relatives and cookies for the neighbors. I went to get 30% off a Nana manga, but Borders Express didn’t have the Nana I want. *tear* They only had 1 and 2. I finished 3 a little while ago, and there’s a bit of a cliffhanger there, so blagh I wanna read the next one really soon.

I bought Hot Gimmick volume 10 instead. I read that last night, and I just kept getting confused. Who are these characters? What’s going on? What happened? Blah. I have to reread the whole series. -.-

Monday … was nothing interesting, really. Mum stayed home because she felt a little sick, and went in to work today. Afterwards we went to the market.

Wow, I’m talking about going grocery shopping as the highlight of my day. No wonder I don’t update outside of school. *makes a face*

What else can I talk about … Oh, on my validate all websites’ XHTML project, I got a little further along. With Blue Book I switched from using html documents to php documents for the pages, just so it’s easier to update the layout. Specifically the navigation. The reason I stuck with frames for that site so long is ’cause I didn’t want to have to update the navi for every single page. I’m happier with the site now! I might actually update more often! I still have to clean out the quotes, get rid of ones I don’t like any longer.

But I suppose that’s only interesting to me. Maybe Noelle.

Um, on Christmas presents I’ve bought or put together everyone’s but SM00′s. I’m gonna go get that tomorrow. The sad thing is that both C and N paid up everything they owe for all the presents (I usually buy stuff and we split roughly three ways), and I’ve got only $21 cash for SM00′s present, and I want to check Borders tomorrow to see if they have Monk season 3 (40% off DVD boxsets) and Nana volume 4. Technically I have only $80 in my checking account (just because the property managers haven’t cashed the rent check yet doesn’t mean I count the $1300 that’s in there), and maybe I can ask Mum for $70 tomorrow for inputting Grandpa’s stuff into Quicken that I can deposit in the bank, and then I’ll feel better about using debit to pay for Borders stuff.

Two sentences that were toooo long. I need to get to bed.

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But just now I heard the WORST cover of a Christmas song, EVER! It was “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” recorded by I don’t know who, in a pop, teeny-bopper style. I have nothing against teen pop. But seriously. HAVE YOU HEARD THE ORIGINAL SONG?! It’s … not meant to be sad, even though its origins were >.> … but still, it’s not a jump up on the trolley dance around kind of song.

(Don’t know if I wrote about it on this blog before, but the original lyrics were really depressing, because of World War II. To read the depressing lyrics, along with humorous commentary, go here, December 26 entry.)

(I just had a memory stirred. Did Coldplay record a song using the original lyrics last year?)

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Christmas was fun. Good food, nice presents, and lovely entertainment (Léon!! XD and a “class” in flower arrangements led by my oldest cousin XP).

N drove to Auntie G’s in his Impala. XD So cool. I wish I were that sure of myself. :/ Big breakfast. Muffins and … danishes? (something, I forget what they’re called), and this sausage/bacon/cheese thing (with mushrooms :x), and another similar plate, a spinach/cheese (a cheese with a fancy name o.o). Gooood breakfast. All cousins, cousins’ husbands, aunts and uncles (except for T and L) were there. ^___^

Ooh, today, with Jichan’s gift I bought two albums: Switchfoot’s The Beautiful Letdown and Brand New’s Deja Entendu. ^__^ It was … 21. 63? I think? Got $29 back (paid change; trying to lighten my wallet; but then he ran out of singles and had to give me four quarters back :/). Had to drive the Toyota to Best Buy ’cause it and the van were in the driveway. o_o Scary. Not easy. Not that bad, though. ^_^

With the $29 I paid back the $19.98 on the board and paid $5 for my Chobits poster, the Dark Chii on the floor one (’cause Animecastle said things were backordered [before Thanksgiving!], so Mum ordered more things for me for Christmas, and some stuff came in. ^^;; Yeah, I have to pay for the transparent poster. Somewhere around $13? :/ Oh well. Now I have $4. :O So much for me buying more clothes … blegh. I don’t like me sometimes, you know? And I looove the Switchfoot album! :D Not one of my favorites, but still verah verah coool. XD