Bad Sweater Party

You're looking at the winner of our bad sweater contest!  Tonight, we had everyone come over after work and bid one of friends a fond farewell.  Mary Jo is moving away to South Carolina, having received a great job offer and wanting to start a new chapter of her life.  She's been with KidPak for about ten years, so you can imagine she's had quite an impact on all of us.

So tonight we threw a "going away party" that happened to be a "bad sweater party" where we did an "ornament exchange" and everyone brought "snack and desserts."  Daddy popped in the Christmas music, and quite a few people showed up for the party - about twenty-one by my last count.

It was a good time to be with friends - Mommy, who you can see in the center of this picture above, did quite a bit to make sure everyone was welcome.  By night's end, she was rather exhausted.  But everyone had such a good time.  Not all the sweaters were bad, but Daddy had a particularly nauseating one with Santa's head on it.

Even Madison wore a Christmas sweater!

You can see her holding up her prize.  She's very proud that she "stole" it.  You see, we did that game where everyone brought a different ornament, and the game proceeds as people open presents and steal from one another.  Madison actually got the ballerina ornament from someone else, and somehow got to keep it by game's end.  It might have something to do with people being unable to steal from a six-year-old girl, but that's to her advantage and she made it work.  Currently, this ornament is hanging from the highest bough on her pink tree - the perfect addition!

It was a fun night for everyone.  We even had one of those virtual fireplaces up on the wall just for fun. What made it more funny was our Gävle Goat that was nearby:  we put it just under the fire, and it looked as if the thing was on fire.

That, of course, is a Christmas tradition noted here frequently as Christmas time approaches.  Incidentally, the Gävle Goat is supposed to be put up on December 2nd this year, which isn't too far away.  We'll be sure to monitor that, as the world anxiously awaits this poor goat's fate.

Meanwhile, tonight's festivities were a huge success!  Everyone had a great time, and stayed a lot longer than usual, just sitting around talking with one another and doing some catching up.  Daddy took a lot of pictures, including some of a few families in front of our tree.  It was a great night, but quite a bit of work for Mommy, who is smart to get some sleep early tonight:  tomorrow is an even bigger day!