Young Professionals' Christmas Party

This past weekend, our Young Professionals Group had their annual Christmas party. Over 50 of us bombarded Pat & Niki's house for some festivities. The boys all watched whatever important college football game that was on as it was projected onto the wall while we all enjoyed some super delicious holiday goodies. Brad and I contributed our signature "Little Smokies" and our friend Beth again brought her amazing Cinnamon roasted pecans. We had incredible fudge, dips, cookies, brownies, pies, sausage balls, and any other Southern comfort appetizer you could think of as well as hot apple cider. Yummm...

After the game finished, and while we watched the classic Rudolph, we played Dirty Santa. Now, you would think it couldn't possibly get that Dirty in a church group, but you would be mistaken. There were over 40 gifts to choose from (and steal), and it got pretty vicious. Luckily, Brad and I know how to play the game - you've got to work as a team, you see? My turn came before his, and in order to assure safety, he convinced me to use my turn to steal the huge giant flashlight/spotlight that he wanted, since it would be the third and final steal, rendering it "frozen" in our posession. In return, he graciously agreed to steel the rather girly Santa decoration from Gena's visiting mom, even though he felt bad about it, and it took a little bit of coercion. However, little did we know that Gena's mom was quite the brutal Dirty Santa player. Somehow, I got involved in a swirl of steals and could never finally grasp the Santa decoration or the matching Snowman decoration that I coveted. Oh well. I did walk away with the Dan in Real Life DVD, which I'm super pumped about.

Besides, at least we didn't end up with Brad's vindictively contributed Dirty Santa Kiss of Death: the hideous gold Buddha box. Poor Stacey. Nobody would steal that from her no matter how much she marketed on its behalf. (I am positive that that terrible gift will rear its ugly head again and again for many years go come.) And, thankfully, we didn't end up with virtually the same gift, like Brian and Bonnie Baker. Out of 41 gifts, they somehow ended up with matching table fountains. And we're all mean enough that no one would volunteer to steal it from them in order to give them the opportunity to choose another gift. Sorry, Bakers.

Overall, we had a great time. This party is one of my favorite things that we do each year. It definitely helps kick-off the Christmas season. Especially when we have cute photo props to pose with! (See new blog header.) Good thinking, Megan. :)