The family had a white Christmas in Chicago. I got the sweetest voicemail from Nicky on Christmas Eve after the UPS-man dropped off his gift.
"I want to call you for thank you for my Christmas present... You didn't call me. Merry Christmas. Love You... Can you please call me back? Please I want to call".
That boy melts my heart. His cuteness continued on Christmas morning, when he woke up and saw that Santa came, he squealed, "Santa came and he didn't leave coal in my stocking". His excitement grew with each gift opened "holy guacamole" "kazam" and other similar combinations. I hear it was caught on video and I look forward to seeing the footage. I would love to share a holiday with them, but traveling during the holiday is costly and hectic. If I did go for a holiday weekend, it'd be such a chaotic whirlwind, I'd never be in one place long enough to enjoy it.
Plus, 60-degrees and sunny is my kind of Christmas. I'm all about those warm holiday wishes. It was beautiful here in Las Vegas, and I was finally feeling better on Friday, too. Just in time to welcome Bob and Hugh. They were staying at Aria while Hugh was visiting. I'm not a fan of Aria's casino, but the hotel? Wow. The rooms are gorgeous. I was very impressed by all the little details, decor and stunning view. We visited and all that jazz to pass time until our meal at Estiatorio Milos. Pete joined us, as well. The five of us enjoyed a Greek Christmas. We had a fantastic meal, but I'm going to make y'all await the details. After dinner, we hung around the Cosmo and gambled. So far, I'm a fan of the property - we toured more spaces: the other pools, Scarpetta, No Name Pizza Kitchen, STK, among others, but the casino games are cruel. 5 for 5 we were all unlucky. After our beating, we thought we grab coffee and a sweet bite, but the Caffe had already closed. It was 10:15 on a Saturday night, wtf? We went to Comme Ca, instead. We had coffee and dessert in the bar.
Cardamom Creme Chantilly
Valrona Chocolate, Caramel Creme, Orizaba Praline Feuilletine
Neither of the desserts were worth their $9 price tags. Two lattes were $10 and served luke warm. The waitress did bring two fresh hot lattes after a mention of how chilled the first ones were. I realize this isn't a fair representation of the restaurant itself, but I certainly hope their dining fares better. We were unimpressed.
Christmas day was fairly quiet. We spent much of the day relaxing at home. Meanwhile, Bob and Hugh saw Red Rock and casino hopped. They came by afterwards. We had margaritas (Bob replenished our Patron supply) and played cards while we waited for dinner to cook. I prepared us a tasty meal of gouda stuffed pork chops, brussels sprouts and my grandma's potatoes. Dessert was oreo truffles and nutter butter truffles. Afterwards, we went out to old Henderson to low roll and show them the Water St. casinos. We mainly played at El Dorado for 10-cent roulette and $2 blackjack, but we also stopped at Rainbow and Emerald Isle. No wins, but a good time was had.
Sunday was all about football. Frank usually catches the games at work, but since he's on PTO he ordered the day pass for the NFL Sunday Ticket. How I've missed the Red Zone Channel! It's the only way I can enjoy football all day long, it's non-stop action and no commercials. Hugh caught a flight back to Kentucky last night, but Bob is staying with us until Wednesday -- more good eats to be had. We took him to Sushi Mon last night. He loved it. Frank asked asked him to rate it on a scale of 1-10 based on his experiences including his time in Japan, he said it was an 8. Nice that to know Frank and I can recognize something good despite not having lengthy experience with Sushi/Japanese. After stuffing ourselves silly we went home, played Mille Bornes until the hot tub heated, and then soaked the rest of the night and tossed back a few beers.
Not quite a traditional Christmas, but it was merry and filled with cheer.
5 comments:
I love Milles Bornes! My stepmom had that when I was little - I used to love visiting her & my dad and playing that. I've never seen anyone else who plays it or has even heard of it. Maybe it's an Illinois thing?
All this food is making me hungry, you horrible woman! Glad you had fun with your visitors!
It might be? It was a game Frank and I both grew up playing, but it wasn't until my mom inherited my grandma's set that we remembered it. We were playing at my mom's house for some time, and then we bought our own set on Amazon. It's good fun.
What an awesome Christmas! You didn't mention any Christmas present exchange between you and Frank...tell me the guy got his favorite gal a gift? ;o)
Was Aria busy? Or more like a ghost town?
Thanks for the great post.
Frank and I don't exchange gifts in the traditional sense, we put the money aside for weekend getaways or staycation. This year funds are going towards a weekend in San Diego next month.
Aria's casino was pretty dead, but the public areas were busy. In fact, all of Vegas has been really busy this last week. I couldn't get over the crowds at MGM on Monday or those last night at Mandalay Bay.
Makes sense - great idea re: the getaways.
I just wonder how long these gigantic places can stay open without the gamblers donating their paychecks. Oh well!
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