as the world Turns...: 2nd Annual Rockin' Christmas Party

Wow. I don't really know if I considered having another Christmas party after the one we had last year, but since we all had such an awesome time, AND since my neighbors harassed me about having another one since I titled the first one "1st ANNUAL Rockin' Christmas Party", we decided to give it another go! And we had an awesome time, yet again. All the girls begged me to let them bring food so I didn't have to do it all myself but I kept insisting that I really did ENJOY doing it! Honestly! I enjoy planning the menu and putting it all together and then planning the presentation of it all. That's the part I get all excited about:) We invited 17 couples this year and once again, THEY ALL CAME (except for a few of the men that were traveling or at a football game)! This year I introduced dad's famous Christmas carol picture quiz and another one very similar that uses word phrases for the songs. It was so funny to watch everyone crowd around the kitchen table in their own little groups, whispering answers back and forth and competing to see who would win the Starbucks gift cards I had as a prize! They were so into it! And of course, we had the most fun during the Gift Exchange!! I like the way it's set up b/c I don't specify whether the gifts are supposed to be "real" gifts or "gag gifts", which I think makes it even more fun. There were some awesome "gag" gifts floating around, and the funniest part is how some of the intended gag gifts often get stolen several times! Some of the funny ones were a piggy bank that was a naked butt and when you put money in it makes a fart sound (Really, who makes these things?!!). Another one was a putt-putt set to be used while sitting on the potty; it was called "pot and putt"! A moose salt-n-pepper shaker was stolen several times too. Probably the gift that caused the most laughs was a picture of Shawn and I, in a frame, that Bert Wilder took off the shelf in our living room and put into a gift bag while nobody was looking. It was hysterical when Lisa opened it and thought I had wrapped up a picture of us as a joke...but even funnier when people realized that I had nothing to do with it!! We have such a fun and sometimes CRAZY group of neighbors, but there is never any lack of laughing when we are all together :)