I Suck At Holiday Parties

Yesterday was quite the busy day. In fact, the month of December is generally a busy month. My birthday, my friends' (Jen, Ellen, Anna) birthdays, my BFF's (Kerry) birthday, other birthdays and events which I'm sure I forgot about, and of course the traditional birthday of baby Jesus are all in the month of December.

I refer to Jesus's birthday as the traditional birthday because contrary to what a lot of people believe, December 25th is not Jesus's actual date of birth. From what I have read, there is evidence that Jesus was born around Yom Kippur which is in the fall. December 25th just happened to be designated as Jesus's birthday to coincide with the pagan festival of Saturnalia. I guess Saturnalia-mas just did not have the same ring to it as Christmas.

Needless to say, December is busy with the holiday season. And of course, holidays would not be complete without holiday parties. Unfortunately, I suck at holiday parties.

Karen and I kicked off our holiday party tour by venturing to Lowell. There is a lot to like about Lowell... or so the city of Lowell would like to have you believe. Karen's aunt (Denise) hosted the annual family Christmas get-together. This was the first year that Christmas was not being celebrated at Karen's grandmother's (Nana) house, in part because Nana's house is no longer accessible to the family. (The house was recently sold... and I have a funny feeling that the new owners would not appreciate an entire family showing up on their doorstep to celebrate Christmas.)

For a family steep in tradition, I imagine celebrating Christmas at a location other than Nana's house may have been a little strange. As it was, things did seem a little different because not all of the usual suspects were able to attend the family get together. Luckily for me, I was not one of those usual suspects.

Truth be told, it was not that bad. I was expecting a lot worse because Nana's sister was scheduled to attend. I suppose every family has that one crazy family member. I think for Karen's family, that crazy family member is Nana's younger sister. More often than naught, Nana's sister is likely to say something crazy... forget... and then say the same exact crazy thing again... forget... and then repeat the cycle again and again. I imagine it's much like talking to me... which is probably why I expect the worst.

But like I said, the family celebration was not bad. No rigamaroles yesterday. It turns out that yesterday was the first time in over a year that my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) has been to Aunt Denise's. As well, I got to meet one of Karen's cousin's (Laura) significant other. He was quite the interesting person.

All in all, it was fun. The food was good. The highlight of the celebration was probably the family Yankee swap... also known as the inappropriately named Ghetto swap. The swap is basically a Yankee swap of items that family members are trying to get rid of from their household. So needless to say, the items are generally interesting. I'm glad that Karen's cousin (Karlene) started that tradition because the swap definitely does make things a little more fun. (For anyone curious, I ended up with a couple of sombreros that I had pawned off in a previous family Yankee swap. So I got it back... Damn!)

Anyway, following the family fun, Karen and I then headed off to Salem where Kerry was hosting her annual holiday party. For Kerry, this was her 7th annual holiday party. I don't remember how the annual party started, but I believe Kerry looks forward to this event every year.

Attending Kerry's 7th annual party were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Andrea, Jen, Hot Amy, Carlos), Hot Amy's significant other (Mark), and a whole slew of Kerry's friends from Rhode Island. In years past, the party was a little territorial. By that, I mean the party was segregated by location. Kerry's friends from Rhode Island would be in one room; her childhood friends from Massachusetts would be in another; her friends which did not fit either category would be dispersed in-between. It's only natural because people tend to do what they are naturally comfortable with. Thus, people tend to associate with others who they know and whatnot.

This year, however, I think there was more of an interaction between groups which was nice. I think it definitely helps that Marc was there. This year was Marc and Kelley's first year attending. Out of Kerry's childhood friends from Massachusetts, I would definitely say that Marc is probably best suited to bridge the gap between the groups with his unreserved comical personality. So it was great that he was there. Of course, it may also have been the fact that each group is now more comfortable with the other group now.

Anyway while at Kerry's, I decided to come up with a new term. The term is "blog-worthy". Much like the Seinfeld episode involving Elaine and the sponge, "blog-worthy", to me, will refer to anything that is deemed worthy of printing in this blog.

Normally, the thought would not enter my mind. After all, to my knowledge, I didn't think anyone even read this dribble known as my blog... outside of a handful of people. And even of that handful, I am never sure if they actually read this blog because they never add any comments or whatnot.

It came to my attention, however, that someone wanted to be mentioned in my blog. Hence, that certain someone wanted to be "blog-worthy". It never occurred to me that any of my friends would want to be mentioned in my dribble. Most of the time when I mention things, people simply roll their eyes.

So in accordance with my friend's wishes: Kudos to Andrea! Truth be told, I probably would have mentioned her regardless in this post because she made some delicious stuffed mushrooms for Kerry's party. I love fungus. Yummy yummy fungus! The stuffed mushrooms were delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) I must have eaten half the tray of mushrooms.

In general, Andrea does make some great food. Her peanut butter balls... yum! Maybe instead of a bake-off between Kerry and Kelley, I can now convince them to have a showdown with Andrea as well. Yeah, maybe I do just want to eat the fruits of their labor...