party

From Christmas to colon cleansing

by Cellobella on Friday, December 26, 2008 · 3 comments

Christmas happened, and in fact was the most stress-free Christmas dinner that I’ve hosted.  I know! Can you believe it?!

What? I don’t look hysterical do I? Oh. Just my hair…

The day started with me waking my teenage son so we could open presents.  Long gone are the days when small people jump on you at 5am to gather by the tree.

Eventually the males of the household dragged themselves to the lounge room and with coffees in hand the present giving began.

Groover has always maintained that all he wants is “a gumnut stuck to a card” from the kids – in other words – it doesn’t matter about the gift but he wants them to at least think about him when they buy it.

We saw a wry smile when he opened his first present from Dipp to see – yes, you guessed it – a gumnut stuck to a magnet.  The rest of us rolled with laughter.

I think the presents were a success.

The funniest was the last one, again for Groover.  He’d wanted me to get Dipp ABBA Singstar but I knew he really wanted it for himself. So I decided the kids could give it to him for Christmas.  

The night before when we were wrapping presents he asked me if I had bought it for Dippity.  I feigned horror: “Oh no! I forgot!!”

“What?  But you knew I wanted to give her that!  I would have bought it if I’d known.  Damn!” He ranted on, “I was really looking forward to it…”

It was all I could to do to stop cracking up.

So when he opened the last present and we saw his face – it was priceless.

After present opening of course we had to have a practice of Singstar ABBA – gee the songs are fun to sing although I do I do I do I do is much harder than I thought – they sing that line in a different key or something.

Anyway then Mum and Dad and my Aunt arrived with more presents and I got – how is this for an unusual present – a colon cleansing kit.

No there are no hoses – not that kind of kit – it’s a detox program with herbals and such like.  Well I suppose it can’t hurt and Mum is going to do it with me.

Gives me the runs just thinking about it.

Then we cleaned up the house in readiness for the party.

Then I made my salad and discovered I was out of toothpicks.  So while Groover dealt with the turkey – turkey number 1 – I tested out my new ipod tuner thingy for the car and went over to mum and dad’s to get some toothpicks.

I stayed yarning for a while and then moseyed back home to make some devils on horseback (prunes wrapped in bacon) and set the table.

Guests started arriving at 6ish and we had a glass of champagne-style wine and prawns and then began the feast.

Dad’s ham was delicious as was the turkey and then we had four salads. It was delicious and I didn’t miss the brussel sprouts AT ALL!

As the sun eventually set, the fairy lights came to life and we had proper plum pudding – brought by R.

And then presents!

This year we did a Kris Kringle… here are the instructions Groover sent to everyone:

In an effort to maintain the spirit of Christmas, the social responsibility to reduce our global footprint and have a bit of fun all at the same time, we are proposing the following gift-exchanging policy for those wishing to take part.
Please only bring one present each. This present should be:
  1. New or unused and in its original packaging if possible.
  2. Wrapped in some kind of paper or material which disguises its identity.
  3. Not labeled in anyway
The gift can be of any value whatsoever, but the idea is to re-gift something that you have lying around the house that was given to you at some time and you really can’t stand.
Anything.
Perhaps it was a corporate gift or a smelly candle or something you bought and then never used. It may be something you had multiples of, whatever the idea is that it is a new item YOU DON’T WANT!
The gifting ceremony will involve people (one at a time) selecting a gift and then unwrapping it to squeals of delight, eg:
“Oh fantastic, a jar of tastefully themed Blue & Yellow Eagles Pot Pourri!”
 
Then the fun really starts, the next person selects a present and as they unwrap their Perspex Frog / Shower Timer they then have the choice to exchange their gift with any of the already opened items.
 
So if they prefer the Eagles Pot Pourri to the Shower Timer, said gifts are swapped until all gifts are unwrapped and hopefully that rather useful set of outside table-cloth fasteners is in your possession and all is well with the world.
It means that the first person gets to choose what they want out of all the unwrapped gifts but might have to relinquish it and the last person has no choice of the unwrapped presents but can choose whatever they want.
It was HILARIOUS!  The massager was very popular as were the men’s socks.  There was also a pink make up bag, a tomato plant and some Japanese bells among the gifts – it was so funny to watch.
And of course we finished the evening with a massive Singstar session.
Because everyone pitched in it was a breeze to host Christmas this year and of course the good part of hosting is you don’t have to drive anywhere!
So despite Tuesday’s little melt down – you know what?  I’d love to host Christmas again.
I hope your day was a good one.

First birthday parties

by Cellobella on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 · 7 comments

I went to a first birthday party on Sunday. It was a bit weird.

I didn’t go with my family, just me, and it did feel odd going to a baby’s party without a… well… baby.

I was out of that space.

It made me wonder about how the people I invited to my first born’s first birthday felt because we had quite a big party and a lot of the guests didn’t have kids.  I even had nametags.

That’s my dad holding up his one-year-old grandson.

Of course for your first child you want to have what’s really an adults party.  To thank your support group and to celebrate surviving the first year.  

It’s more about you than your child – and really – now I wish I’d bought Miss Lithuania and Smartrider a present rather than their son – who, let’s face it – is highly unlikely to hold it against me!

Yeah.  That’s a great idea.

Next first birthday party I go to – the present will be a “well done, you survived the first year” gift.

Miss L looks happy she survived huh?

I learned a new tradition – not sure if it’s Lithuanian or not – but at this party the birthday child was allowed to grab his first birthday cake.  Apparently his mum and sister got to do the same.

Have you heard of that tradition?

I think it’s kind of cute… if a bit sticky.

The best four year old party

by Cellobella on Sunday, March 9, 2008

I’ve been to quite a few parties for four-year-olds in my time but today’s at a neighbourhood gym for my nephew, was the best.

Now my judgement may have been skewed by the fact that at 13 and 10, my children didn’t need close supervision, actually on reflection that was probably a big part of it, but the main reason I enjoyed this party was because I got the chance to let my inner child go.

I also loved the trampolining made even better by the terrific guy who ran the place who gave tips to adults and kids alike and was pretty good himself.

Usually I hate kids parties. Especially when they’re not my own kids. You don’t know the other adults who are distracted by their kids running amok, high on sugar and fast food. You sit there being polite when what you’d rather be is sat in the car reading your book.

But this time, despite the maxi-dress, I got into it. And I especially liked it when the trampoline man complimented me on my pointed toes.

Singstars… not.

by Cellobella on Sunday, December 9, 2007

SingstarsWe’re supposed to be cleaning out the back room for The Dark Horse and his girlfriend who are coming to stay with us next week. Instead we are recovering from our hangovers from last night (more on that later) by playing Singstar.

The only songs I can get close to are Something Stupid (the Robbie Williams part), Smooth Operator and the song by The Fratellis which has lots of Do Do Do Dos in it.

Hopefully we’ll be able to download some more singable songs soon – or at least some that I know.

piratesLast night we went out to Groover’s work Christmas party. I was supposed to go to my work’s one but Groover’s was Pirate themed – a murder mystery set in the Salty Dog Inn (aka their workshop room). It was really good fun. I wore a corset and my long red wig and spoke in a throaty Irish accent (or something not that close) all night. I must have been reasonably close as someone thought I was Irish! :)

My character was Mad Rose, Groover was Dirty Wiggins, the hangman and chief police officer. He had a starring role and his one liners were hot all night. He must have a sore throat like me because his Arrrrh’s were loud and frequent!

The pirate punch was lethal and at one point -despite my heel breaking – I was all for heading on down to the Burswood in full pirate kit to join my work party.

sarah_trainNow about the choir photos. I’ve downloaded the camera and I’m afraid the news is not good. Either the photo is out of focus or you can’t find me or I’m obscured by a microphone. So here is one taken at the train station on our way.

And that’s about it. Only four days left of work before I’m on holidays and I’m SO looking forward to it. Lately my life has felt like an out of control train heading for a brick wall so I’m quite keen to put the brakes on.

No Christmas shopping done yet, but that’s per normal.

We’re heading to Connecticut to my sister’s for Christmas so I’ll probably do most of my shopping over there to save on luggage space. We’ll be over in the US for a few weeks so if you’ve got any tips as to places to visit – I’d love to hear them… or places to shop. :)

(This is why we need to get that room sorted for our housesitters! Speaking of which, I’d better get off my lardy arse and get on with it. Groover? Wake up!)

My favourite joke

by Cellobella on Sunday, July 29, 2007

Went to a great party last night. A 40th. Loads of people dressed in cowboy outfits, the children made the cocktails (I was driving so no, didn’t have any of those) and there was country music (ah well).

This morning my hair smells like woodsmoke.

I saw my first flatmate – we shared a unit in Bunbury – and I haven’t seen her since about 1990. She’s exactly how I remember her – with slightly shorter hair.

Anyway I got the opportunity to tell my favourite joke so I thought I’d share it with you too… aren’t you lucky?

Why did Chris de Burgh cross the road?

To get to the middle of course!

Hehehe… LOL… ROFPMP!