Indian Christmas Party

I spent the morning cooking more chocolate chip cookies since Marshall ate the first batch I made a couple of days ago. We also were still lacking one gift for our Indian Christmas gift exchange at the party tonight, so we headed to Target to see if we could find one. Marshall of course picked out a sound related item so if he ended up with it he would be happy. On the way home we stopped by PT's to pick up lunch and then headed home to finish cleaning up and putting the last couple of things together for the party. A little before 6pm, the first guest arrived - my cousin, Erika. Shortly after her our friends Tina and Jamie and their 4 month old daughter Harper arrived. Harper wasn't the only baby for long though as Holly showed up with her 8 month old daughter Sophia. It was not only my first time meeting Sophia, but also Harper's and it was cute to see the two little girls try to play with each other. My Dad and my good friends Dawn and Eric showed up just shortly after the babies had arrived. Dawn brought us a lovely poinsettia. I held Harper for Jamie so he and Tina could eat some of the huge spread of food I had. Harper and I took Eric into the nursery for he had not been over to our house since we had transformed it and wanted to see it.

Right before the babies had to leave to go home for bedtime, Susan and Stacey arrived as only they could do. Susan was wearing bells on top of her head and Stacey had transformed a tree skirt into an ugly sweater! They certainly commanded the attention of the room as they entered and everyone marveled over their outfits. They never cease to entertain. Just after the babies and their respective parents left, my Mom and Billy showed up. Dawn and Eric visited a bit longer and then left as they had a dinner party to attend back at Carolina Beach and they were already running late for it. Eric seemed more concerned with their promptness than Dawn who was very eager to take the blame for their tardiness if it meant she could stay and chat a bit longer.

Since everyone was now here that was participating in the gift exchange, we started the game by drawing numbers. I also passed out paper so everyone could vote on the ugliest sweater too. Stacey drew #1 so she kicked off the game. There were some great gifts handed out - a pretzel maker, a iPod speaker, a movie package, a tree shaped candle holder, a decorative beverage dispenser, crockpot, redneck wine glass (made out of a mason jar), and a trivia game. Marshall of course got the movie package complete with snickers, popcorn, kit kats, chocolates, and the movie I am Legend. Since Brian couldn't be there to participate, he made Stacey include a movie that he had worked on and Marshall just happened to pick their present. I got the yankee candle tree shaped votive holder complete with candles, which Marshall ended up putting together and lighting before the party was over. My Dad went last and he chose to open the last unopened present instead of stealing someone else's. He got a game called Fact or Crap and said, "well, that's what this is, crap." I felt the room cringe. Only my Dad knew exactly the most untactful thing to say at just the right moment. I knew right away that that was the gift that Susan had brought and I cringed when he said that as I knew it would hurt her feelings. It would have hurt mine if someone had said that about the gift I had brought. I thought it was a good gift and I'm sure most people at the party would have enjoyed the game. All around everyone seemed to enjoy the game although everyone was really nice this year. Nobody stole anyone else's gift!

Right as we were finishing up the game, Marshall's sound friend Geoff and his girlfriend Amanda showed up. There were there just in time for us to reveal the winner of the ugly sweater contest. I counted the votes for the ugliest sweater contest and they were: 1 for JoJo, 1 for Marshall, 1 for blonde girl (Stacey), 1 for "Mine" (no idea who that was suppose to be) and 4 for Stacey. So Stacey it was. She opened her "Keep Calm and Carry On" mug with spoon that stays in the mug handle.

Then it was time to eat some more and chat. Marshall introduced Geoff and Amanda to the few people they hadn't yet met. Eventually, Susan and Stacey had to leave as they had another party to attend in their neighborhood. My Mom and Billy left shortly after as my Mom's allergies were really starting to get to her. Our neighbor Brad showed up then and we all migrated to the kitchen to eat and chat around the kitchen bar. My Dad eventually left so it was just Brad, Erika, Geoff and Amanda. After about 30 minutes or so Geoff and Amanda said goodbye as they were leaving later in the wee hours of the morning to drive home to New Jersey. Brad and Erika both left right after them and we sent Brad home with some cookies for his girlfriend Kelly. I was glad everyone came over but I was so sleepy by the time everyone left and was glad to be able to clean up and put my PJs on. Marshall and I then laid down on the couch, turned on the TV and I fell asleep shortly after. Eventually, Marshall woke me up and we migrated to the bed.