Coffee and a Conversation
As Told Over Brunch is a home for intelligent discourse from the twenty-something perspective - so the stuff you gossip about over mimosas on Sunday morning or over takeout on your friend's couch when happy hour ends too early. We love chatting about our lives, whether it be the relationships we’re building (or destroying), lessons we've learned at work, struggles at school, growing pains we've felt, or even the food we’re talking over.
I’ve found that people think that all I think about is brunch, so wanted to manage people’s expectations that this holiday guide doesn’t make one mention of brunch. Well — past that one. Cazey and I put our heads together to try to make the essential holiday gifting giving guide. Let’s get rocking.
There's no time like the holidays to troll your family. One time for my mother's birthday, her only directive was, "Don't get ice cream cake." Naturally, we took that to mean, "It'll be really funny to get her an ice cream cake."
So, like any reasonable family, we bought my mom two cakes, an ice cream cake and then a secret chocolate cake. We brought out the ice cream cake, ecstatic about the deceit. Then we all giggled as her face fell.
Read MoreI'm chronically in pain over getting people Christmas gifts. 2014 was a good year for me, and last year was relatively okay too.
This year I helped run a charity drive. We were raising money and collecting toys for Toys for Tots for about three weeks. Every day we would take the money and lock it up, even though there's really no reason to be nervous about it, it's money for charity. No one would take it. I thought it was more just a safety precaution, you know, a CYA (cover your ass) moment.
Yes, that's right, someone stole money that was supposed to buy toys for underprivileged children for Christmas.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, Cazey and I were invited to celebrate Southern Season’s first year in business in the Richmond area. The event included learning more about the store and restaurant, while also getting to sample some of their food.
My prior knowledge of Southern Season up until the event was mildly passable: I’d been there, made a few purchases and even went to a cooking class. I didn’t know about the restaurant at all, and couldn’t have even identified that there was one. What’s interesting was listening to the manager’s speak about Southern Season, and that seems often to be the case: if you know of Southern Season, you either enjoy the restaurant or the store and hardly know about the other.
Read MoreTruth be told, I am not a great gift selector. I'd like to think that doesn't reflect upon me in a way that suggests that I don't pay attention to people's desires, but I probably don't pay that much attention to people's desires. My way of picking presents out for people is basically going off of one comment that I vaguely remember them making, and hoping for the best. Here's how I applied my technique to each member of my family:
Mom and Dad: Ahh, you can see problem #1 here is that I have already grouped them together. And generally speaking, they have two hobbies: beer drinking and golfing. The golfing theme has been done. And done again. And redone. To the point that we've beat the dead horse, and then some more for good measure. So that only leaves beer. And that's even been done. Last year, I took them on a "tour" of every wine and beer landmark I experienced since moving to Virginia, by buying them a bottle from every brewery or winery I could get my hands on. Nothing like outlining your drinking endeavors to your parents, right?
Read More"How is school? Are you getting smarter?" - my grandmother
"This is my girlfriend." - my cousin's wife's brother introducing his significant other. They'll be married before I bring someone to dinner - and he's 19.
"When are we opening gifts?" - me
"Is there any special girl in your life? Are you so hard to please? Do you have a list of what you're looking for?" - my grandmother to me
Read MoreSome people may find this very not of the spirit, but every Christmas, I email my mom my wish list with links. This way I ensure I get what I want, and I leave room for surprises, e.g. what color/brand/amount Santa should bring. This year my list contained five items:
What I received this morning does not exactly match the requests.
Read MoreI'm hoping y'all are enjoying time with your families, but since you're looking at this, you must be looking for somewhat of a reprieve. So instead of sitting around your family reflecting upon your own memories, here are four of my favorite Christmas Pasts:
I hate to be one of those people who says, "Let's not talk about it," because really, I only want to talk about it more after you say that. But here is a list of things I'd rather not discuss while reuniting with family and friends over the holidays.
Grad school. Like, OMG, number one thing people want to ask me about. I know they say grad school is supposed to break you before it does - well, whatever it's $uppo$ed to do - but I didn't know it would have me questioning what is a truly healthy amount of apathy, dissatisfaction (does that negate the apathy), and why the heck don't I just teach elementary school art???
Hillary. Yes, she's going to run. And if she's not, is the fighting worth it? Pass the pie.
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