Belated Christmas gift, Pirates, Coffee, and Red

1. My dear sister, who lives in Hong Kong, called me a few weeks before Christmas and asked me where she should mail my Christmas present to. Since we were spending Christmas in Arizona, I told her to mail the present to Bryan's parents house. I figured with more than two weeks before Christmas, the present should make it there in plenty of time. Needless to say, it did not. We stayed in AZ until December 30th, but the present still had not arrived by the time we left Bryan's parents. They dropped us off at our friend Carolyn's place in Phoenix, and when they arrived home the present was waiting for them in their mail box. Grrr. So, fabulous in-laws that they are, they immediately put the present back in the mail, addressed to me in Vancouver. THREE WEEKS later, on January 19th it arrived in my mailbox, six weeks after it had left Hong Kong, and I was finally able to open the present. There were no postmark dates on the package so I was unable to see where the holdups had occurred. But I suspect it was the US Postal Service that was the problem. Maybe the contents of the gift gave them cause for concern. It turned out to be a cute pair of Marks and Spencer PJs and three (yes, three) wrist watches which, according to Bryan, tick very loudly. Two of the watches are made by Diesel and the other is CK - my sister told me they are the kind of watches where the warranties are sent in the mail. I figured out that much, because one of the watches claims to be "weter resist".
2. Last night Bryan and I joined some SJC folks for a Pirates of the Caribbean Rum Garden at The Norm. It was a lot of fun. Lots of people came dressed as pirates, but for some reason a couple of people were dressed as cowboys. Rum cocktails were available during the movie, but it wasn't really the kind of setting where people actually watch the movie. No, people talk all the way through it, wave plastic swords, and shout "Arrrrrrr!" and other pirate phrases at the appropriate moments. So if you hadn't seen the movie it may have been difficult to follow, but it was a lot of fun anyway.
3. I Woke up this morning to a phone call from my Aunt, who was flying through Vancouver on her way to Whistler. They said they were coming over to take us out for a coffee. So I had 20 minutes to get showered, dressed and neaten up the house. My Aunt Jenifer, Uncle Ron, cousin Kirsten and Kaze the dog showed up. We went for a quick coffee at The Bean, had multiple conversations all at the same time in an attempt to quickly catch up on everyone's lives and aspirations. Then 40 minutes later they dropped us back at home to resume our Saturday morning activities, as they whizzed off to the snow. This fast-paced conversation and lifestyle is typical of their family because they have a ginormous family. Its a huge contrast to my family, which is small and very slow-paced.
4. Tonight we are going to a Red Party at Carly's house. Not a meeting of the Communist Party, but a party that celebrates the colour red. And I'm totally into that, because red is my favourite colour. We will wear red clothes, drink red cocktails and eat red treats. Hurray!