On the 15th Day of Christmas

Cancelling this morning’s workout turned out to be a smart move as, not having to rush around, I was rested and in a good frame of mind when I went down to the Community Room for the Ugly Sweater Christmas Party, prepared to once again be robbed, as I was at our Halloween Costume Party when I didn’t win Most Creative.

Walking into the room, first thing I noticed was the seating configuration.

As previously mentioned, Community Manager rearranged the tables and chairs to where we were separated into pairs — gone were the big tables pushed together to allow for group seating.

Why?

No really good reason. Just because she could, and wanted to flex her power and control.

In addition to her new configuration, the Community Manager ordered us to not unarranged her configuration, rearrange to make it more copacetic for our use.

Walking in, I was surprised to see the tables had been rearranged to suit our needs after all.

Asking the Baker how the organizers (herself, Red Light, Homegirl) were able to get this by Community Manager, she said "I got into trouble".

She would not elaborate but, from the flash of fire in her eyes and the way her mouth tightened, it’s a fair guess that she’d had enough and went toe to toe with Community Manager (CM) — said what she’d needed to say, threatened what she needed to threaten to get CM to cut the crap.

At any rate, the room was how we needed it to be, and the refrigerator had been unlocked.

Whatever the Baker said or did, it probably shocked CM, because the Baker is not one to get fed up, lose her temper. She's all meek and mild, let's people walk all over her, but everyone has a limit and the Baker evidently reached hers.

I'll bet it ended in a compromise — CM backed down, allowed the refrigerator to be unlocked just for this occasion, with the tables and chairs to be rearranged back to her configuration at the end of the party.

The party was a hoot and a holler. We had so much fun.

Residents were feted with Tacos (a choice of beef or chicken), rice, beans and tamales (tamales provided by the Baker’s daughter).

Dessert was German Chocolate cake and jello shots, minus the liquor.

After the meal was The Saran Wrap Christmas Game, where prizes were enclosed in layers of saran wrap, forming a big ball.

The ball was given to the first player to unwrap, try to get at the prizes, while the person seated next to him/her/they/them tried to throw doubles with a pair of dice. Once doubles were thrown, the person with the ball was considered timed out, the person that threw doubles got at the ball while the next person tried for doubles to time that person out, take a turn at unwrapping, getting to a prize.

Folks took the game seriously, unwrapping as though their life depended on it before being timed out.

Others got a bit upset when they'd barely touched the ball before being timed out, because the next person got lucky and quickly threw doubles.

It took some doing to get to the levels where candies, lottery tickets, money and small bags of chips began falling out.

At the end of the ball, last prize to fall out was a gift card.

Next was the White Elephant gift exchange.

Having run into the next-door neighbor of my old buddy Apache at Walmart last week, I’d asked if she was coming to the party.

"I’m broke", said she.

I said for her to come anyway, that she didn’t have to participate in the gift exchange.

Later, I thought to come up with an extra gift for the exchange, with the intent that she’d be able to participate.

Great minds think alike, because a couple of us brought extra gifts so those not able to bring a gift would not be left out.

Most everyone seemed happy with the gifts they’d unwrapped, but there were a few less than thrilled faces and steals where folks liked what someone else had chosen, opted to steal it from them, rather than choose a gift from the table.

This stealing forced the person stolen from to select a different gift from the table.

With sufficient extra gifts to choose from, Apache’s neighbor did not end up with the extra gift I brought. Instead, she unwrapped a gift, and found inside a set of four Rubbermaid food storage containers.

She didn't look all that thrilled.

The Bite Me coffee mug I’d wrapped and placed in a Christmas stocking went fast — was the third gift to be chosen — chosen by Homegirl who seemed happy with it and though others thought it cute, no one pulled a steal.

The extra gift I’d donated was kind of a social experiment for me — a money roll.

I’d strung 18 one-dollar bills together, added a two-dollar bill at the end, placed them in a box with a pull tab at the beginning of the roll.

Where the social experiment comes in is ... you know how we sometimes in life make choices based on how pretty the outside package is, only to later find out that what's inside is not all that great?

Well, I had a sense that, with so many struggling for cash around here, $20 would come in handy, but I wanted to see how long it would take and who would select a package that was plain ..... in terms of life again, the package that looked basic and humble on the outside, not so prettily wrapped.

So, though I had pretty Christmas wrapping paper, I wrapped the gift in plain butcher paper, but added a colorful ribbon to make it Christmasy.

Sure enough, it was almost end of the game before someone selected the gift that was not all glitz and glamour.

It was stolen twice — once by the guy's wife, which forced him to select another gift.

Then, someone stole the money from the wife.

However, she was smart. Instead of selecting another gift, she stole the money back.

I don't know if that was a legal maneuver in the game rules, but it was hilarious!

Inasmuch as a gift can only be stolen twice, the wife — no longer in danger of having the money stolen a third time, ended up with the loot.

That was so much fun that I'll do a money box from now on.

Maybe next time, folks will think twice about being lured by colorfully wrapped packages — end up with four Rubbermaid food storage containers instead of needed cash.

I myself didn't have to pick a gift because, early in the game, I saw my friend Jenne open a gift that was a cozy little blanket and santa mug.

I told myself then and there that, I was going to steal it from whoever had it when my turn came and did.

Try as we did, I came away with not a single elf photo to show you.

Folks did look in the mirror, some screamed, but even with someone standing behind the person looking in, the camera could not capture the image.

So stinky poo on that, but you could have knocked me over with a feather when I won Most Creative.

Prize was $10 Walmart Gift Card, which I’ll use to purchase candies for the gingerbread house I plan to build.

I also walked away with a bag of goodies from Homegirl — earring's she'd made, a blinged out coffee cup filled with candies that I'll pass on (the candies not the cup), and a painting kit, including brush and an easel, to paint a drawing she herself sketched.

She's so creative.

Bless her heart. It was nice of her to think of me, but I don't know what gives her the idea I can paint. LOL.

I will however, give it a try ..... that is if and when I can find the time.