Last night I went to my best friends’ Mark & Jessica’s holiday party. They had these cute server guys who kept topping off our wine glasses the entire night. I had maybe 2 too many glasses and knew the moment I had to lay down, otherwise the night would have been a disaster.

In the middle of the party, Jess took me upstairs and gave me a pair of PJ’s. I threw off my party dress and jumped in them. She made me drink a bottle of water. I drank some but it was hard to take down. She stood there and said, “Drink the whole thing.” I did. Then she handed me another bottle. “Finish this one too.” I sat on the floor. Fine.

I went into the guest room and plopped down. She threw a blanket over me and said there’s another comforter on the floor if I got cold. She pushed the bedside table closer. “There’s more water over here, ok?”

Through the blasting hip-hop music and party shenanigans happening downstairs, I passed out.

Sunlight crept into the room. It was quiet. “CC?” I opened my eyes. Jess popped her head through the door. She looked like me – messy hair + smudged make-up. She said, “How are you doing?” I said, “Good. I need to go home to feed Sammie (my dog). I’ll Uber it home. Can I borrow a sweatshirt and flip-flops?.” She gave me a UCLA sweatshirt, Birkenstocks, and jeans.

Everyone else was still asleep. While we waited for my Uber, Jess filled me in on what happened the rest of the night.  People jumped in the pool. Someone had a major foot injury. Guests who didn’t plan to spend the night were on the couch. Somehow as adults we forget to have nights like this more often. It was a good night.

Jess handed me a heavy box. “Here is your Christmas present. It’s from me and Mark.” My Uber was arriving. I put the neatly wrapped gift in a large bag, along with my party dress.

30 minutes driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, I zoned out at the ocean. Arriving home I ate a bowl of oatmeal and vegged on the couch with my dog. I looked over at the present sitting on the kitchen counter.

I was curious what it was because Mark and Jess are both very thoughtful. One year Jess gave me a rice cooker because she noticed I didn’t have one. It should be illegal for an Asian person to not have a rice cooker.

This gift was similar, but way more generous. It was a Sonos wireless speaker system, not for one room, but multiple speakers to fill my entire home! I set them up right away. One speaker in the living room, the other upstairs in my bedroom. I sat at my dining room table and whipped out my phone to do a test run. The first song that came on was Sam Smith’s Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

I looked at the speakers and burst into tears.

She and Mark had come to my holiday party a couple weeks ago and noticed my outdated little Bose speaker. It was one I had to buy an adapter for because it was so old. It wasn’t easy to play music on. Whenever I had parties I would have to crouch down to control the music, and also stop the music and get interrupted whenever someone called during the party. Mark and Jess notice these types of things, so bought me the Sonos.

These are the things in life that I am incredibly grateful for. A friendship so good that you cry when you think about them, while a cheesy Christmas song comes on.