The Christmas Party Chronicles Part 2

Yesterday's Residents Christmas Party got off to a rocky start.

Manager all of a sudden appeared, threatened to shut us down because Hell on Wheels (HOW) had brought in alcohol ……… eggnog and kalua.

After a discussion with the organizers, we were allowed to continue with the caveat HOW would put the alcohol away.

You all know my interest in getting to the bottom of things by now; so, after Manager left, I asked the question, "How did she know?".

Name Dropper offered that she’d gone to Manager’s office to discuss her oven not working, said Manager looked preoccupied and before Name Dropper could drop her complaint, Manager stood up, said, "I’ve got to see what’s going on in there", and rushed to the Community Room.

I surmise Manager had been watching us on the video setup at her desk because, not only did she know there was booze in the room but, when she burst through the door, she went directly to the person with the alcohol.

Mark my words, Manager will use this incident as an excuse to do what she’s been wanting to do ……… forbid our using the Community Room for activities.

So, anyway, other than that, the party was a hoot.

While I satisfied myself with my homemade gluten free fodmap free chicken tamales and leftover kale salad, the residents had a choice of Mexican Food (enchiladas, tamales, rice, beans, salad) or lasagna and salad. There was also a table of desserts, which included a pineapple upside down cake in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Those little grinch characters the Baker had me print out, turned out to be a hunting game.

Twenty-five of the cutouts had been placed in various places around the room, and whoever found the most won a prize.

I totally didn't notice there were clip outs sandwiched between slats in the blinds.

The other games were Pin the Nose on the Snowman, and guess how many candies in a jar.

How the snowman started ………

How the snowman ended.

Snowman’s "nose" was all over the place so, when I was asked to decide a winner, I picked a nose that was close to the correct spot, as many were, but was pointed in the direction of a nose.

The social experiment I did with the money boxes was great fun, but didn't go exactly as I'd planned.

Second to pick a gift was the guy who won the money box last year, let’s give him the blog name of "Husband".

His wife, who is not all that mobile, told him to pick for her and Husband, recognizing the butcher paper from last year, went straight for one of the boxes.

Problem was, he ended up with the box containing the Star Wars Gingerbread kit, with no chance it would be stolen.

Husband was next to pick — for himself, and chose not to trust the other two butcher paper wrapped gifts, ended up with a purse.

Husband went from bad to worse in the swap.

Two or three more gifts, and it was Dream Lover’s turn.

You can hear Husband in the background saying, "There it is".

Husband had obviously expected money in the box covered in butcher paper but, having been burned by that first box not containing money, passed on the other two, but now realizes he'd missed an opportunity.

Next up was myself. I chose to steal.

I’d seen Agnes unwrap Myth Arts bowls, so not wanting to take the chance of unwrapping something I wouldn’t like, I stole the bowls I’d seen and liked.

Agnes was not at all unhappy with my stealing, because it gave her the opportunity to choose another gift or steal ……… she promptly stole Dream Lover’s money, which he for sure wasn’t happy about.

Having lost the money, Dream Lover had to pick another gift and took a chance on the last remaining box.

No one expected it to be yet another money box.

Dream Lover miscounted. It was $30, not $25, but I did not correct him, because I don't want anyone to know the boxes are from me.

Next was Red Light, who promptly stole Agnes’ money.

Instead of opting for another gift, Agnes then stole Dream Lover’s money with Dream Lover promptly stealing it back.

This being the third time that money had been stolen meant Dream Lover’s cash was safe, could not be stolen again.

I ran into Dream Lover this morning and he was still perturbed at how many times his money had been stolen saying, "What the hell" when he recounted the sequence of who'd stolen from him, LOL.

After Red Light stole Agnes’ money, Talker stole the money from Red Light and that being a third time, that cash could no longer be stolen. Talker ended up with the cash.

What I've learned from this experiment is money boxes are the fun way to do a gift swap, but now that the boxes are expected, to move on from butcher paper, wrap every box different paper, different ribbons.

In fact, next year ……… if there is a next year, I'll probably just buy premade money boxes.

I'd posted previously, when a resident complained about Di using the "F" word at bingo, that I'd said no big deal because I've used the word my own self. "But you don't say it in front of us" the complaining resident replied, and I'd said, "Not yet".

Well, there were times during the event when one of the organizers stood up front to inform us of the sequence of events, etc., and we couldn't hear because people were talking over her.

Others, including myself, would yell for people to shut up and listen.

Still, people were so into their private conversations that they would not stop talking, which prompted me to say, "People won't shut up, What the F$%k".

So there, it's been said in front of them.