After missing at least one party, we began "THE" party of parties on December 13th with the Carson Energy company party at the owner, Carter Bills, home in Lost Creek in West Austin. Keith started working for Carson Energy back in June of this year after having them as a client for over ten years. The party was as elegant as ever from the hors d’oeuvres, wine, fabulous tenderloin dinner to the marvelous tricks of the master illusionist. Keith and I stayed at the Barton Creek Inn and drove back home Sunday morning just in time for the kids Christmas Pageant practice, late mass at Marak, basketball practice with Courtney and none other than, yes, you guessed it, another party.
After basketball practice I made a sweet potato souffle and took it and the kids to the SPJST Lodge #24 Christmas Party. Each of the kids also took a gift for the Santa Pal collection. The youth club provided the meat for the meal and everyone else brought the sides and desserts. There was so much food! The youth club officers lit a candle for each of the deceased lodge members from the past year and Dustin, bless his heart, burned his finger with the match. He told everyone later that was his first time to use a match and didn't realize it was getting so hot while he struggled to get the wick to light.
Thursday, December 18th, was another fun-filled day of parties. Each of the kids had their classroom parties and I was able to attend all of them. Dustin's class had a buffet of sandwiches, chips, dips and desserts. I was "volunteered" to bring a dozen sandwiches, so of course, I dashed to Chic-Fil-A and got a tray of mouth-watering chicken salad sandwiches. Mrs. Fuchs brought her newborn baby for all to dote over and we played heads up seven up but used candy canes as the "tag" item. Everyone got a 
candy cane by the end of the game. From there, I went on to Rachel's class where she was having a white tablecloth sophisticated party. Mrs. Dodd brought glass plates and real silverware for their cake, strawberries, apples, and pretzel snacks. They also had orange juice to drink. Now, I have to say that was a great plan to keep the kids in line. Kids will usually act up to the environment they are placed in and this time it worked. Quite opposite from Dustin's party. Last, but certainly not least, I moved on to Courtney's class where she was enjoying her cookies, fruit and juice. After snacks, one of the parents read a couple of books while they were getting ready for the gift exchange. Each child brought a book 
wrapped as a gift. Mrs. Bonstead let the kids draw a number and then pick a book from the pile as their number came up. One of the kids decided to pass when it was his turn because he just could not make a decision. Courtney and two other classmates knew exactly which one they wanted and yes, they chose their own gift. I showed Courtney the book she was taking and oh how she wanted it so bad. She was thrilled when her number was called and her book, "Chicken Little" with all the stickers was still in the pile.After three parties in one day, you would think that would be enough, right? Well... we had one more gathering. The kids and I loaded up and headed back to Austin for the Alliance Tech company party. We got to town a couple of hours early to miss the rush hour traffic and do a little shopping. We met up with Keith at Bed, Bath and Beyond and then went to Chipotle's for a quick snack of chips, guacamole and hot sauce. While there, a cold front blew in so we had to run to Marshall's and get the girls a sweater. From there, we headed to the County Line on the Lake restaurant for my company gathering. The company has grown so much this year and since I work from home, I had no idea who some of the people were. The food and drinks were good, as usual. Dustin got to be one of Santa's helpers as he and a couple other kids passed out gifts to all the kids. There was also a drawing for the gift baskets at each of the tables. It was 11:30 before we got home with the kids and they were sure cranky getting up for school on Friday.
On Saturday, December 20th, we had the Chambers family gathering. Dad & Joyce and Mom & Butch drove down from Kansas while Tammy & Aubrey came down from Oklahoma and Misty drove up from Spring. Dustin and I had about a 40 minute drive and we all met for lunch and gifts in Hewitt at James and Sharla's house. Keith brought the girls later after they finished with their softball hitting camp. Everyone brought part of the wonderful meal and the kids had a blast with their gift exchange as usual and then parted ways shortly thereafter. Some of us stayed for Alli's 6th birthday party that evening and then headed back home.
The Andel family gathering will be Christmas Eve...
No comments:
Post a Comment