I got four, count'em, four bottles of hooch. And one of the gifts I gave was a bottle of hooch. I can't help but feel like that's a sign of something.
Well specifically, one side of my family had a White Elephant random gift exchange thing (that being the polite name for what's really called "Chinese Christmas") and I wound up with a cooler-satchel with two bottles of low-brand Moscato wine. I gave up a waffle iron in the process to my bro-cousin.
My Dad had gone to Best Buy to get me a stereo, but since he hasn't bought a piece of modern electronics since 1994, he was so baffled by the array of stuff that claims to play music but isn't actually a stereo that he left in defeat. Instead he got me a leather jacket (one I can actually wear, sorry Mom) and stopped by the liquor store to pick out something cool. He settled on a full fifth bottle of genuine French Absinthe. Because I'm the only person he knows who would appreciate what it is, apparently, except for all of my cousins.
Then after Christmas at the other side of my family (an excellent Christmas, almost nobody got in a fight), I had breakfast with my mother and she gave me a bottle of Andre champagne to take home. Hey why not.
I also got a hand-written cookbook, some tools, and
a model of the White House.