Holidays never go like you think they will, right?

Yesterday was a day of fasting, followed by a feast-o-rama with family. Over the years, Max has gotten pretty chill about holiday celebrations; the noise and hustle and bustle don't get to him like they used to. Still, I never know how things will go and last night was no different.

For one, Max decided he wasn't eating anything although he drank a big glass of milk, his go-to evening cocktail. But he sat at the table with all the adults and made conversation. This was a first, a sure sign of maturity. For many years, he'd sit by himself in the living room and watch TV.

Mostly, Max talked about his desire to move to Los Angeles, California. As he sat there in his Los Angeles, California baseball cap, which he wears everywhere except the shower. We are still working on the reciprocal conversation thing. Max is super social but tends to talk only about his own interests. I'd say this is not atypical of many teens.

And then, Max played "I Love L.A." on Alexa about 10 times in a row as he danced around. Meanwhile, Sabrina and my nieces decided it would be fun to dress up Ben as a girl. Turns out that Ben can be a really cute girl.

Then Max and Dave went out for pizza and did their usual Home Depot run, where Max is a regular and the guy at Dunkin' Donuts knows them by name. Max zoomed a cart around and eyeballed appliances for his fantasy home in L.A.

Not the evening I planned. As we well know, though, often things don't go like you planned—but they can still turn out pretty awesome.

Here—now it can be in your head, too!