New Christmas tradition?

To celebrate the baby sister turning 21, the 5 of us went to the bar. Right now, this is perfect, since we are all hip to the bar scene, and the Dude is old enough to get into bars but not old enough to drink, giving us an automatic designated driver.

Originally, we were supposed to go out on Tuesday, the first night all 5 of us were in the same place. But it was not so organized, and we were all tired from our various projects of the day (work/baking/traveling/etc). Instead, we ended up at the bar after Christmas Eve dinner.

Fashionista found a pub a mile from home. It was surprisingly crowded. While I knew it wouldn't be empty, I didn't expect that many layers of humanity between me and the bartender. To celebrate the Fashionista's 21st, we did a bartender's choice of shot, that was impressively palatable. Then moved on to round 2. We scored 2 barstools and chatted amongst ourselves mostly, although Fashionista did have a boy buy her a drink. The same boy we asked to guess oldest/youngest. To his credit, he identified me as the oldest. I'm guessing it was my calm demeanor that gave it away. Whatever it was, I was vindicated.


I think the Dude felt a little awkward having to hang out in a bar and protect 4 women. And it's funny for us who see him as the baby in the family.

I'm not sure how I feel about it all. On one hand, it was fun to hang out like people and not siblings. On the other, there is something so wrong about piling into the minivan, on Christmas Eve, to get your drunk on. That said, it already feels like a new tradition.

Now I lounge on the couch, watch some guilty-pleasure TV with a mild buzz, grateful that Santa didn't come early.