Last Thursday was R's Christmas party - the one for the adults (since that what we are supposed to be calling ourselves...err.. I mean behaving like). So we got all dressed up, okay.. we got sort of dressed up which for me meant a skirt AND makeup AND fluffy southern-i-fied hair and for R meant something without camouflage or denim. Hey - we have kids - no point in getting out the fancy stuff for everyday wear since the kids will either get bodily fluids, food, or art supplies on it.
The older kids were voluntold (our opinion only) to watch the younger ones, but either way you translated it, it meant free child care. So, sign us up! After getting lost once or twice (everything looks exactly the same in Germany at night in rural areas) we finally made it to the Christmas party site. Which, I have to give the planners credit - it was a beautiful place. If we actually had money to spend on us, I'd totally want to spend the weekend there --probably in the spa.
T settled in quickly. The resort even provided kiddie food - mini pizza, mashed potatoes, hot dogs, peas and carrots (Me and Jen-nay go together like peas and carrots - I LOVE Forrest Gump!), and other kid friendly stuff. My only suggestion would have been to put the condiments in smaller serving dishes because a big bowl of ketchup to T is like manna from heaven. And he's not so crazy about sharing the things he truly loves. Like ketchup. And Thomas the train.
They had two different Christmas movies playing, both of which he'd seen before and liked, so he could have cared less that we left or if we ever came back. Such a change from this time last year, when I literally could not leave his sight for one second! But to us, it looked like there was only one teenager there for all those kids and there must have been 15 already. So we were nervous about leaving S, since she's been a bit of a pill as of late. And with all those other kids to deal with, we weren't sure that we could leave our little banshee there to ruin everyone's night. So we thought we'd take her up to the main room with us. Two flights of steps later, we walked into smokeville. Sigh. Now, I grew up in a tobacco town with a smoking family. While R and I don't smoke, I feel it's up to the individual to choose how they live their life. Unfortunately, about 45 folks chose to smoke right outside the ballroom door, so to go in to the party, you had to walk through the fog, and leave your coat out there in fogdom to absorb all the magically delicious smoke odor. So, we turned around and headed back downstairs with S. We could hold our breath and dash in, S has yet to acquire that skill. Fortunately, there were now several older kids there to help out and several small babies, which would keep S interested. So we put her down and left again, T was having so much fun he didn't notice that we had come back.
Walking through the smoke haze, we entered the ballroom where the theme was Let it Snow. We know this because it was written in several places. Which is good, because there was no other indication of what the theme was. Looking around we saw very few people that we know. Of course, since R does the PT program, they all knew him, and oddly enough didn't seem to want to hang out and chat. Huh! So, we walked the perimeter and smiled and nodded at people we did know. We ran into R's section chief and ended up chatting with him for a long time. So long that we ended up sitting with him at dinner. Admittedly, it was fun - he's hilarious - and between R and the chief, people left us pretty much alone. Woohoo - how to be social without actually being social.
Ohhh.. and they had a slide show up of photographs of the squadron members and their families. And do you know what I saw?!?!?! My meek, quiet little hubby on his hands and knees all drill instructor like, yelling at some poor soul doing pushups. Well, I'm pretty sure it was R. I recognized the ears. Since R never yells at home, I was fascinated. But my seat was near a column, so I couldn't see the slide show well from where I was sitting. sniff sniff.. I smell a rat. People always tell me how mean he is, which I find hysterical, since I've never seen that side of him. I have pissed him off before, so I know he's got it in him, he just never loses his temper with me. Now I know why, he takes it out on those poor out of shape coworkers of his. HA!
Moving right along since the party sure didn't..cocktails and social hour were at 6, dinner was supposed to be at seven, but between the speeches and the game they played to determine the order in which the tables could eat, we didn't start eating until after eight. It was a beautiful spread - a mini salad bar, tons of pasta and I think potato salads, roasted wild hen, tomato soup, salmon, roasted goose, ham, green beans, potato dumplings.. you get the idea. My only thing is this - I don't eat mayo if I can possibly avoid it. And I don't know what it is with the Germans and the Canadians, but they are mayo happy. It seemed like it was on everything. I did try some new things, but ugh!! The theme for the night should have been food slathered with mayo. Blech!
After we ate and socialized a little more, we decided to head home with the kiddies since it was way past their bedtime. Walking into the kiddie room, T was checking on S to make sure she was okay (or to make sure she didn't have a toy he wanted). So sweet. The sitters said that S didn't cry at all. Yay! T didn't want to leave - and he'd been having such a good time that he hadn't even eaten any ketchup. Unless you've seen T with ketchup, you don't realize what an amazing thing that is. Trust me.. it's amazing. If you've seen the movie Big Daddy with Adam Sandler, think the 37 packets of ketchup scene and there you have it.
So, we headed home without getting lost, got the kids to bed, fell into bed ourselves with the knowledge that this was our last holiday party --until next year. Three in two weeks is plenty!
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