And then there was quiet

Last night was the rowdiest Christmas Eve I think I've experienced. There were twenty something people from my social group, which really is not many people, until you put them all into a small, one bedroom unit where the only rule is 'no high heels on the floor boards'.

The food side of things was organised weeks ago. We each nominated a plate of food we'd bring. That's the good thing about being in a structured social group (even if the events aren't always structured). Everyone knows ahead of time what their responsibilities are - and they stick to them. Nobody cuts corners like what tends to happen sometimes with family events. So...twenty people meant more than twenty plates of different kinds of foods - salads, meats, cheeses, seafood, breads, desserts. And drinks. I had four drinks, but my poor little head is hurting this morning. I had absolutely no water to drink yesterday, when I normally drink at least 3 litres, so I'm blaming the pain on dehydration.

The KK was interesting. We each took a wrapped present and drew numbers out of a hat to choose which present we unwrapped, in number order. Then we drew numbers again and were allowed to 'steal' someone else's present if we liked it better than what we got. They couldn't say no. To say it got loud would be putting it mildly. There were some cool presents. And some interesting ones. I got a bottle of sex on the beach liqueur. I have no idea what's in the real drink and there were no ingredients on the bottle (seriously!), so I decided it might be wise to give it up. I took a box of apple and cinnamon fudge from someone else. Sounds nice, right? Hmm. No. It smells like bubble gum and tastes like bubble gum and that would be fine if it were not fudge. Eating it was made difficult, because it tasted so much like gum that we almost felt like we shouldn't be swallowing it. That gift is now wrapped up nicely again and will be either given to some other poor unsuspecting person, or brought out on special occasions to torture people.

Picture twenty people, most with santa hats with flashing lights, multitude of glow sticks (anyone would have thought we were holding a backyard rave), and sparklers, running up and down the street yelling Merry Christmas at cars that drove by at midnight. That's how some of us ended the night. Others staged an impromtu dance lesson in the lounge room. The biggest hit of the night was a little dashboard Jesus doll that was supposed to be a silly KK gift that nobody would want. It turned out to be the most fought over gift and ended up propped up on a santa hat the eventual owner was wearing. I have photos. Unfortunately, I cannot post them here.

It's now 10am Christmas morning and it's super quiet. My housemate's kids aren't here yet, so I'm enjoying the peace while it lasts.

I hope everyone has a great day!