Family Christmas in Tampa
Just before our kids arrived in Tampa, Steve baked some gingerbread men and hung them on the Christmas tree, which made the room smell wonderful! Alas, the next morning, some of the gingerbread had fallen off the tree. Now I see why cookies for eating and cookies for hanging have different recipes.
Amy flew in from New York City, and Danny and Mei flew in from San Francisco, and they settled into another apartment in our building. We took them to Meat Market for a steak dinner - a family tradition. Just for fun, we ordered ALL of the sauces! Danny used ChatGPT to label the photo, which it got mostly right. It was a decadent and delicious way to enjoy our steaks.
On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at Steve’s parents’ home, which was beautifully decorated for the holidays. Grandma and Grandpa made prime rib, which was delicious. Grandma set a beautiful table with her Spode Christmas tree dinnerware.
Danny took a photo of Grandpa and used AI to zhuzh up his outfit. We were all tickled, especially Grandpa.
On Christmas Day, we exchanged gifts. Our gifts from Danny were mysterious: a brass cryptex (like the one in The DaVinci Code), a book safe with no key, a picture frame, two metal bolts, two small attached steel plates, and some Pokémon cards. Attached to many gifts were blank plastic cards or discs. Of course, these items were all props hiding clues for Danny’s annual family puzzle game. The black cards were NFCs that, when tapped on our phones, revealed online puzzles. The picture frame had a hidden compartment. The bolts were geocache containers. The steel plates were stamped with the seed phrase for a crypto wallet. As with last year, when we had solved all the puzzles, we found our actual Christmas gifts. But for me, the best gift from Danny was the game he had created just for us, which involved everyone in two hours of puzzles and fun. Danny really outdid himself this year!
After the game, I went to pick up Lola (my mom) at the train station, and the rest of the family went to see Marty Supreme at the historic Tampa Theatre. For dinner, Steve created a tasty pupu platter feast at home - another family tradition.
On Boxing Day, we relaxed at home with a jigsaw puzzle, a new board game (Welcome to the Moon), and a beloved movie, Heart and Souls, that was a gift from Amy. This little-known and underrated Robert Downey, Jr. film was finally available to stream after eluding us for years. For our family, it was like seeing a long, lost friend.
On Saturday after Christmas, the kids went shopping. That evening, we took Lola to dinner at Azure in the Tampa EDITION. It was fun to see all the holiday lights in the hotel and on Water Street! After dinner, Danny and Mei invited us to help them open an entire carton of Pokémon cards. We took turns opening the card packs and carefully flipping cards one by one, exclaiming whenever we found a rare “full art” hologram card. Lola surprised us with a dramatic flair for suspense in revealing her cards. Who knew a box of Pokémon cards could keep six adults entertained?
On Sunday we returned to Mom and Dad’s house for dinner. We brought takeout barbecue from Four Rivers, and it was a big hit. Danny used AI (Sora) to animate the photo of Grandpa, who was delighted with the results.
We said our goodbyes while admiring the festive Christmas lights on the house, which Grandpa could control using an app on his phone. Merry Christmas!
