Christmas Party 2007

After the insanity which was Saturday afternoon, I cooked some supper and headed out to my Critical Thinking exam.

At first, I was pretty freaked out by the questions as I really didn’t know the answers. It got better as I went along as I had been focusing my studying on the later half of the class, not the stuff from the beginning. In the end, I think I did alright and I’m pretty happy about that as the exam is worth 60% of the course. Yikes!

After I left the exam, I made my way to the car and froze myself as it was pretty flippin’ cold. I couldn’t understand the weather reports indicating we were going to have the storm of the decade coming our way. I figured it would be another case of when Ottawa ends up being in a no-snow bubble. I went to Krista’s to pick her up and then we headed to the bowling lane where Vero was having her Christmas party for the production she was working on for the past year. It was fun as they had a video of bloopers made up and they also got a cool sweatshirt made up (I’m jealous!).

We then headed to the house around 10PM where the party was in full force! I had enough time to walk into the house and Joelle and James wanted to give me a gift. They ended up getting me a Game of Kapuskasing! It’s like Monopoly but has listings of businesses around Kapuskasing! They had got Mike and I each one so we didn’t fight over it. This was a very thoughtful gift! I did guess it however as Joelle had mentioned seeing it in the past. You know what I’ve realized? When someone says “I bet you can’t guess what it is!”, just don’t bother guessing because if you do guess and you get it right, you end up disappointing the person. 😉

I then headed back out the door to pick up Rob as Janice was out of commission for the night. We then headed into the party where it was in full force with people playing Guitar Hero and munching on some treats brought by all. Thanks to all who brought some treats!

All in all, the night was great once again. While there is planning involved with the Christmas party, I just enjoy the fact that we can see friends and family before heading our respective ways for Christmas. It’s a cozy environment where people can chat, laugh and insult each other (like Duncan being my ugly twin brother!). It never seems to end in terms of fun. People didn’t leave the place until 3-4AM! This did not help me in the fact that I woke up around 9:30AM and could not get back to sleep!

The trivia challenge was once again a success. We mixed it up this year and had some drawing competitions, name that tune and random trivia. I found that the questions were easier this year but I was trying to balance from the harder questions of yesteryear. Also, there were a lot of trivia questions to pull from the hat and I guess it was just luck of the draw that brought out the easier ones. Mental note for next year – Format worked well, maybe switch it up again? Questions need to be a little harder. Not much combat between teams. We need more yelling!

In the end the women won the trivia challenge by a slim margin! They earned their right to taunt us and hold the Trivia Challenge Cup up high!

After pouring out some apple cider, we then started with the gift exchange which was great as always. There’s something about stealing someone else’s gift that brings out the feelings you have on Christmas morning when your sister gets something you want. 😉 James and Ferda brought THE MOST AMAZING GIFT EVER in the form of a C-3P0 ceramic head which held M&Ms. I was in awe. Benoit was also. Heck, all the guys in the room were in awe. In the end, my best friend of 2007 (Mike G) gave me the C-3P0 head at the end of the gift exchange. Please note he is now my best friend. We also noted that it resembled the little statue in Raiders of the Lost Ark and proceeded to take great photos replaying the scene where Indiana Jones makes a grab for the statue. Clearly, there was no drinking involved at this point.

The rest of the night blurred by. I popped in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to play in the background while others played a board game called Pop5? We sat around, chatted, munched and had some good times.

Thanks to all who came out this year and we’re sorry for those who didn’t get the opportunity to come out do to the weather or other reasons!

Highlights:
– The #1 with a bullet highlight of the year was when Carleigh fell down the stairs. Don’t worry, she’s alright…just a little sore. After speaking to different people, we have the ultimate version of the story printed here for reading pleasure.

Carleigh tells Marc (Mark?) that she is going to the washroom. Flashback about three other times where Carleigh asked Trish where the washroom was and she said “The door on the left.”. Carleigh then goes into the door on the right, closes the door and then the house shakes as we realize that she has fallen down the basement stairs! Marc dashed for the door and we rushed down the stairs to find Carleigh laughing at her misfortune. A collective gasp was let out by all as who knows what can happen when you fall down the stairs (let alone the harsh basement stairs which do not have any carpet!). Turns out that for some reason she thought that she was in the washroom and went down a few steps to the toilet. Hey, we’re not going to question what was going through her head at the time, we are just glad that she was alright. We kept an eye on her all night though in case there was a concussion. We definitely had a good laugh at this when we knew she was alright.
– Trish’s Christmas Rocks album was awarded to Krista who definitely had the tackiest, God awful Christmas sweater there ever was. We should have an All-Star competition one year against all the previous winners. Oh yes, the Trish’s Christmas Rocks compilation is amazing in its production – the song choices (Spinal Tap AND The Smashing Pumpkins?!), the artwork (thanks to Benoit for production design!) and all around good nature from Trish while she posed with a Santa Claus hat and a guitar. That reminds me that she sent the photos of the photo shoot and I had a good laugh. Must post those up soon.

Notes for Palmer (to read next year)
– Label the two doors on the main level – Washroom and Basement. Although, will this really solve the problem? Maybe there should be a sobriety test going on to enter the washroom?
– Get some hot appetizers going like you did the first year (sausage rolls, meatballs, etc.). Maybe have a midnight hot meal kind of thing? May be hard to implement. Think about this more next year.
– Get a group picture! You forgot this year! There was a group photo of the women winning the trivia cup but that’s it! You have nothing to say everyone was there! Or maybe you do. Mental Note: Get photos from everyone.
– We went through half a jug of apple cider. Don’t buy more than one jug next year.
– You had enough alcohol. Rye was still left over. Rum, not so much.
– Maybe some eggnog next year?
– Gift exchange did not any alcohol which was welcome by all, I think. It made for more interesting gifts.