Christmas party roundup

I had the last of my Christmas parties today, so it's time for a summary of the good times.

First off, Friday night was the dancers' Christmas party out in BA. The nice thing about this party is you get to people who don't come to dance whether by choice or by health. The guys' and girls' gift exchanges are done separately so the men don't have to put up with our stealing fun. I gave a crystal swan I had bought in Scotland, but I made it a bit too difficult to open. I wound up with shortbread, a glass mug, and some specialty coffees, but the person who bought that gift knows I don't drink coffee, so she offered to take the coffee for herself and get me some tea. The most popular gifts of the evening were a pair of singing Scottie dogs.

The Previous Christmas party was on Sunday afternoon, but the cook was sick so the festivities were scaled down to a trip to Cafe China without a gift exchange. At the previous Previous meeting, they made a big deal about dressing in festive attire but nobody was festive but me. I didn't feel awkward. I was just just disappointed for everybody else that they didn't have so much fun with the holiday spirit. As for me, I was quite happy wearing my red kilt and a poinsettia in my braid.

One more party to go - the office party. We have a super-sized version of our monthly birthday lunch. After stuffing ourselves full of great food, we have a stealing-style gift exchange. The stuffed puppy and cocoa I gave went through a couple of steals. I was all set to steal a red fleece blanket for its last steal when the round of stealing right before my number went one steal to long and someone else beat me to the last available steal on the blanket. Nothing else seemed stealworthy for me personally, so to the tree I went where I unwrapped a jam server that I hung onto until the end of the game. It is decorated in clover - pink and green - so it matches my other ceramic kitchen decor, but not the overall theme I'm trying to give my kitchen. I've got a kitchen with a split personality half dark green and dark red, half light green and pink.