The last family function of 2023 🎄

Christmas time ensures that we always end our year on a positive note. My family uses it as an excuse to spend time together, eat lots of good food, and spread love through gift-giving. Christmas has more meaning as a family day than it does being a religious holiday. However you celebrate it, it can be a special time of the year if you let it.

Speaking of the time of the year. I can remember last Christmas it was snowing and cold outside. This year though, it was 60° and possibly the warmest Christmas I can remember here in West Virginia.

My brother traveled home from where he lives in Pennsylvania and planned to stay with my parents for a week. He arrived on Friday. I decided I would do something similar despite my apartment only being 20 minutes from their house. I went over there Sunday afternoon and did not leave until the day after Christmas on Tuesday. I didn't leave the house once the entire time I was there and it was great.

I wanted to take the time to write a blog about my 2023 Christmas so that I can always go back to remember exactly how it went down. Plus anyone who reads my blog can also share my joy.

There were lots of dogs around the house while I was there. My mom and dad's two Pomeranians Tito (The black and tan one in the photo above) and Fritz (Black and white with the Christmas tree). Then my brother's Chow Chow Nala was there the whole time and his other dog Littleton was there some of the time, but also went with my brother's fiancé to go visit her family a large portion of the time.

On Sunday my brother had to leave to go to a different family function. My dad wasn't feeling well, so he took a nap to recharge for Christmas Day. My mom and I watched two fantastic movies together. The first was Rebel Moon, which I thought was pretty amazing. It reminded me of Star Wars/Mass Effect with a dash of some tribal stuff. I can't wait to see Part 2 in the future. Right after that, we watched Nicolas Cage's new film called Dream Scenario. I love every Cage film, but this one was especially good. One of the funniest scenes I've ever witnessed was within this one. Just picture Nic Cage farting a prematurely ejaculating at the same time or watch the clip.

I laughed so hard, pure genius stuff. We watched Candy Cane Lane sometime on Monday, but most of us fell asleep during it since we had just eaten a massive meal prepared by my mom. She killed it and had a spread of everything you could imagine. It was the best meal I had all year long, no exaggeration. Restaurants need to step up their game because she is ahead in the race. Thanks, Mom for all the hard work!

We did our gift exchange on Christmas Eve since we were all there with no extra guests. It was calm and everybody got a gift, including the dogs. I can't begin to show my full gratitude for the amazing gifts that I received. I am extremely lucky to have people close to me who care about me enough to give me gifts. I hope that one day I can do something massive for all of them that reflects just how happy this type of thing makes me.

The first thing I will show you is a liner for my air fryer. I had been using aluminum foil every single day when I cook in it. Now I have this easy-to-wash and non-stick liner instead. Plus, it's my favorite color! This was a small yet impactful surprise. I will use this every single day and I didn't even know such a thing existed. Thanks to my mom and dad for this one.

Next up is what I consider to be a lighthearted gift. My brother told me he was concerned that my fingers might become weak from spending so much time playing video games. He was looking out for me and got me a fingerweight set so that I could bulk up my fingers and showcase some juicy muscles. I thought it was pretty hilarious and you never know, it might save me from carpal tunnel. Thanks, Chez and Kristian for this, we all got a great laugh out of it and I think that alone was worth it.

Another gift from my brother and his fiancé was this Allen Iverson Funko Pop. Before this, I had zero collectibles like this. It's not that I don't like them, I just never spent my money on them. When I saw this, I instantly loved it as A.I. is my favorite NBA player of all time. Ja Morant is slowly getting close to my #1, but for now, Iverson is still king since I admired his play and swag so much as a young boy. I'm pretty sure I saw this same Funko Pop at @blewitt's shop this past summer. Then again, that dude has just about everything you can imagine in his store. I decided to place this as the sole decoration on my dining table. This means I will think of basketball and my brother every single time I sit down to eat.

These jerseys have been on my mind for a solid two months. I had planned on ordering a dozen for myself since there were many cool new styles this season. My mom insisted that be one of my gifts, but the one trade-off is that I'd have to wait an extra month to start wearing them. Of course, I accepted that offer. This is now the third time I've placed an order with the same seller based in China. They always send me the highest quality products. The latest collection of 12 is no different. I'm obsessed with these and now have a total of 45 basketball jerseys in my collection. I also have a few NFL and World Cup soccer jerseys, so the total is over 50 now. My favorite of the 12 new ones is the Tyrese Haliburton jersey (#0 Indiana). That Black blue and yellow just looks so damn sexy.

The next gift is simple, but very much needed. It was a dozen pairs of Ture Religion socks. I go through socks like crazy and can almost always use new ones. I didn't have any gray socks in my collection, but now I have plenty of gray and black.

When I went to open this soap present, I had no clue what it was, but I could 100% smell something strong inside. Even though I have received a bunch of unique soap in previous years, I was still caught completely off guard by these 15 different scents from Dr. Squatch. I had seen a lot about this brand but never used it. I have already opened the Bay Rum bar and it is the best-smelling soap I've ever had in my life. It's crazy to think I have 14 other scents to try. This will last me all year and I am eternally grateful for my mom's ability to know exactly what I like without having to ask me.

My mom surprised me with two new tops. One is a gorgeous plaid long-sleeve dress shirt. I love these types of shirts and it's the perfect thing to wear to anything remotely important. I don't often wear collared shirts, but I like having them in my wardrobe for when they are needed. The other item was an extremely soft zip-up. This thing is just so damn cozy and I see myself wearing it all of the time. They both were a brand called Weatherproof, which I somehow had never heard of before. It is pretty popular and also high-quality. I love both pieces of clothing quite a bit!

Another item I have had in my thoughts for months was these three pairs of shoes. These are Yeezy Boost 350s. If you don't know, you're missing out. These are stylish shoes, but most importantly the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn in my entire life. I had one pair already, the Zebra colorway. I won those in a CoinFlip Christmas giveaway a few years ago. I wear them constantly. I decided upon three different colors to add to my collection. Instead of paying over $300 for each pair of shoes like they are here in the USA, these only cost $45/pair thanks to our friends in China. I went with the MX, Oat (Cream/Blue/Orange), Beluga 2.0 (Gray), and MX Rock (Black) colorways this time.

Everyone could tell how hyped I was when I saw these shoes in person on Christmas Eve. I must have been convincing because my dad and brother both wanted a pair too. We ended up ordering three more pairs the next day after we realized the quality was identical to the "authentic" shoes sold in the USA. I can't believe some people still think there is a difference between shoes sold in the USA and shoes sold in China. They both are MADE IN CHINA, I don't see how it could be so confusing to some people. Just shows that some will cling to any bit of something that they think might elevate them above someone else, but it's foolishness.

My next pair is the MX Frost Blue, which I somehow didn't know existed the first time I ordered. I just wrote 3 paragraphs about freaking shoes. I think it is confirmed that I am a sneakerhead, one who wears his shoes instead of letting them collect dust.

My papaw walked into our house on Christmas day wearing this bright green Nascar jacket. I couldn't deny the fact that I loved it instantly. I never dreamed that halfway through the day my Papaw would insist that I try it on and then he wouldn't let me take it off. He gave me the jacket off of his own back just because he knew that I loved it. I felt honored to receive such a gift. He had a crazy story about how he obtained the $250 jacket for only $25. You can always count on him to have a great story.

I don't watch NASCAR, but I love cars through and through. I had to look up who the driver was who wore #5 with a Go Daddy-sponsored car. It was Mark Martin who is in the Top 20 all-time for wins in NASCAR. I also happened to purchase my domain daltono.com from GoDaddy.com, so it suits me. Especially that lime green. I had lime green curtains with orange walls in my bedroom as a kid. I love color and so does my Papaw, but you can obviously see that in the family photo thumbnail image for this post. This was my last gift of Christmas 2023 and it meant a lot to me.

I woke up early on Christmas morning. We didn't have plans until around 2 pm when we would have our big meal. Thanks again for that Mom! I decided to test out my brother's new PlayStation Portal in my old bedroom. I was playing some of my current favorite game The Finals. I was amazed at how well PS Remote Play worked on the Portal. It felt like I had my PS5 in the palm of my hand because I pretty much did. Remote Play allows me to stream my PS5 from anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection. The only difference between actually being on my PS5 is an ever so slightly noticeable bit of input latency. This only affects fast-paced shooter games in my experience. Everything else felt exactly as it does when I'm at home since the Portal is a DualSense controller cut in half with a massive screen in the middle.

The last photo I took was of all of our cars parked outside of the house that I grew up in. I was blessed with an amazing neighborhood as a kid. All 31 of my Christmas Days have been 10/10 and filled with love and happiness. I had what could be argued as an idyllic upbringing. So many great things have happened to me and a very small amount of terrible things have happened to me. My life is drastically more positive than negative. Not everyone can say that and I know I wouldn't be able to without my family. I love you all very much!

Let's do it all again next year when Christmas 2024 rolls around.

^{Follow my curation trail}