The Christmas Party 2011 Part 3

NO FOG

The Christmas Day was bight and sunny. That was a god send because sometimes our climate is burdened with Tulley fog. It blankets the ground and causes significant delays in getting students to school and travelers to and from the events they plan.  So no ground fog.

Lindsay and I arranged for rooms at the inn.. the Holiday Inn express for the party  house guests.  I did not want them to come and have to stay at some slease ball spot in Los Banos because the fog had become too dense. The Holiday Inn Express had changed locations since the last time I was in that part of the city. I thought I knew where it was but no.. it had moved further south and built a new hotel right next to the new Hampton. Using Hotwire, and choosing three stars instead of names we saved 30 dollars a room for stays in the new hotel. The family guests were pleased with the accommodations. A couple of them raved about the new pancake machine. They were happy with the service oriented people that were working there especially the breakfast manager with whom they chatted up.

Clean up Help and Post Party

The girls and their husband and friends dropped back home the next morning and we all went out to the Big Bear restaurant to have breakfast, since we didn't have connections with the hotel. They all came home and gave us an hour of clean up time. When multiplied by 5 workers it is amazing what can be accomplished.

Interest Groups An Evaluation

The interest groups beside the lovely lemon throw down were a success too. There were some great audio mixes that were shared by the participants. Dad and I brought photos to share and Cammie brought some photo cards to share for the photography trade out. The cosmetic share was a little more directed to people that they donors thought could sue the product rather than a pool for all of those into it to select what they want.

Kelly led a great stocking stuffer event. All those involved, which I think numbered 7 or eight brought small gift items that were wrapped. All those that wanted to be a part and brought could select at their turn an item from the stocking stuffer pile. The target was to make each item a low cost item. I characterized it as secret santa on steroids. There was a lot of merriment that occurred out of this event. The cookie interest group had a nice assortment of cookies to share. I think that next year the members (or at least I will) remember to bring some containers to take home the collection. I made some nutty jam prints. There were some people that combined the cookie group with their lovely lemon throw down entries. This made for some nice lemon cookies in the mix. The spritz were always a crowd pleaser too if for no other reason then the sentimental value of remembering them as a Christmas signature cookie within our family.

Some people remembered the pets in our families and added to the stockings the pet members. Some people brought take home gifts for the pet members.

There were a few interest groups that sort of died this year. While great in idea and could be revived for next year. People didn't make ity bitties in droves. An ity bitty was defined as a home made item that was less than 3 inches square. I think that there is great potential in this group but the home made portion fell apart as some members were burdened with other areas and focused on what they could do.

The bring a book group did not fall into organized shape. Some people brought books and some people took books so I guess in the long run this one was a success. I thought that there might some moderation for this group allowing people to share what they liked about a certain book they brought. This might be done through social media next year if there is interest.  It might morph into a kindle group where people could line up after the review for books to be loaned through this device. There are lots of direction that this one could go.

Summary 

The original thought was that these interest groups would move the group from a focus of gift giving on Christmas to taping our collective strengths and common interests which provide a gift of share to all its members. I think that we were highly successful in fulfilling this mission this year.  This group is taking off in wild directions, We may even have a moleskine magic group next year. Bring and share your moleskine with others that have them too!  Just a thought.

: ) Pat