Party gifts

The one problem with hosting a party for all the lovely people you know (ok, ok, all the lovely people you know who don't have to get on an aeroplane to come and see you), is that you don't actually get to talk to any of them.  On Saturday it felt like we were just snatching a word here and there between answering the door, pointing people to the food, mopping up drinks spilled by various kids and seeing people out again.  Not that that wasn't enjoyable in itself, but I hope we'll get to spend time with all these friends again in less hectic circumstances over the months ahead.

One set of guests were the hosts of the party we attended at New Year.  At that time they'd told me all about a school they support in the Dominican Republic.  They came across it while they were on vacation there one year, and now they visit annually to help out and take supplies, and they try to raise money in the meantime.  I was impressed by their dedication to this worthwhile project, so invited them to bring some photos and information to our party and we took a collection, in a low-key sort of way.  By the end of the evening there was nearly $500 in the basket. 

Our friends are lovely indeed, and generous with it.

Joe Blog

All that partying yesterday left the kids feeling too tired to go skiing today.

Well tough, we went anyway.  And had a great time - of course. 

My lesson kept me on the Bunny Hop, one of the easiest trails.  But the kids were taken down "Joe's Special" which is a Blue, a "more difficult" trail.  That sounded a bit out of my comfort zone, but when the Boy insisted I try it I rationalized that if my eight-year-old could do it, how bad could it be, really?

Two minutes of sheer bloody terror was what it was - steep and icey with unexpected bumps.  While my son somehow managed to chug down at a sensible speed, his skis firmly wedged in a wide snowplough, I went hurtling along on the very outer edges of control.

But I did make it down in one piece.  Three times, actually. 

Wa-hey!

House Party

It has been a long but enjoyable day.

Up early to do all those last minute preparations that have to be done before hoardes of people arrive at your door.  The Girl and I even managed to fit in our skating lessons, too, before party kick-off time.  There was the nervous tension wondering if anyone really would turn up...and then the first ring of the doorbell followed by full-on socializing for about five hours.

It was a successful party.  "No-Good-Reason" seemed to be persuasive enough to bring around 80 friends out of hibernation for the afternoon and evening.  Guests ranged in age from seventy-plus to under-one, and everyone mingled with ease (no need for any of my contrived questions, after all).  They came from all sides of our lives here:  the Man's work, two schools, the neighbourhood, fair trade, the farmers' market, Five Rivers, 4-H.  We were surprised by how many lovely people we know, and I for one got a real kick out of having them all under our roof on the same day.

So, note to self, we must do this again some time.  But (yawn) maybe not very soon.

Only a paper dream

We've never managed to realise the Girl's dream of having a treehouse - I fear we lack both the vision and the skills for that.  But at least we now have a tree in the house.

The recent burst of party-related creativity has been reminding me of December 1993, when I was living in my brother's house in Oxford.  He took off for a few days, first organising decorators to come in and strip the living room wallpaper while he was away.  Before they arrived I spent a merry day or two decorating the room on my own account, with felt-tip markers:  jolly dancing Santas on the walls, and swags of holly for a border near the ceiling.  Though I say it myself, it looked lovely.  I held a party and invited everyone I knew at the time - a very international crowd turned up.  The guests all drew on the walls, too, and wrote messages in multiple languages.  Lots of fun. 

The decorators duly appeared a couple of days later, as arranged, and magnolia-ed the place.  My brother never got to see the greetings in Burmese and Japanese, or even so much as a holly leaf. 
Whereas you, dear reader...

Concerted effort

Tonight we attended the school's 4th and 5th Grade Winter Concert. 

The gym was packed - standing room only.  4th Grade is so big this year there's a whole extra class, so I guess that's nearly 50 extra parents to accommodate on occasions like this. 

4th Grade strings gave a brief but stirling performance of Twinkle Twinkle and Mary Had a Little Lamb.  To my surprise, there were even a couple of double bassists in the band - you couldn't see them, just their little hands stretching up the necks of their instruments.

Next the 5th Grade strings, followed by a special tribute to the orchestra teacher who is retiring after 40 years of service.  Some members of staff had pulled together a scratch band and enthusiastically murdered Hot Cross Buns and a reprise of the ever popular Mary Had a Little Lamb. 

A little more instrumental entertainment, and then the choirs:  4th Grade, 5th Grade and a grand finale featuring the whole lot (about 170 kids).  There was a wide variety of songs, with an international flavour, and the performance was pretty slick and polished.  Big smiles all round - a good job done by all.

The Girl was whisked off to a post-show ice-cream celebration with a bunch of her girlfriends.  The Boy came home and was treated to milkshake and a mini-muffin in recognition of the fact that, having had to watch the dress-rehearsal that afternoon with the rest of the school, he'd managed to sit through the entire seventy-minute performance twice in one day.

Any answers?

Some more questions we might be inviting people to ask at our fast-approaching party:

Excluding people, animals and photos, what would you most want to rescue from your burning house?

What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?

If you had all the time in the world, what would you do with it? What if you only had one hour?

When you achieve global domination, what will be the first law you enact?

What is the best thing since sliced bread?

The thing is, I'd really quite like to hang on to all the questions myself and just interview everyone, because I'm genuinely curious to hear people's answers.  But I think I'd better not because if I did probably no-one would ever come to a party at our house again. 

Having said that, feel free to supply any answers of your own, if you're willing to share...

Different states of snow

More snow fell in the night - a couple of inches, which in these parts is known as "a dusting".  However, it looks like the next severe regional winter storm, which has been muttered about since last week, is going to avoid us and dump on Maine and New Hampshire instead.   Part of me feels like we'll be missing out somehow, but most of me thinks we've plenty enough snow already, thank you (especially since we started making our own). 

To those of you who enjoyed yesterday's blog entry: you're welcome, we aim to amuse.  Since there's no possibility of topping that today, here are a few local snow-scene/wildlife pictures from the last week or so: