A long day, as expected - and a mostly lovely party

My darling niece tries on Eve's shoes. She must take after her Uncle Steve with this obsession about footwear.

I woke up this morning about 7. I got to bed last night about 1:30. I haven't slept through the night in about a week and a half. But there was nothing for it but to get up and get some breakfast. I could tell I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep until I ate something. So I fixed some breakfast, stirred around for a bit, and then laid back down. Just as I was going back to sleep, Dad called. At 9 fucking 30am on a Saturday morning. To ask me to come for lunch.

Well I was back awake anyway, so I got up and wrapped presents. I'm doing gifts with Lisa's family at Biltmore tomorrow. So I got the gifts wrapped (for her family anyway), and by that time I was tired again. I lay back down for an hour or so, then got up and went over to my parents' house. They were keeping Cole, Ava, and Reagan (Carl's daughter) tonight so Lisa and Carl could have some couple time, then we're meeting them in Asheville tomorrow. I did want to go over and see the kids. I just wish Dad could have waited a bit longer before calling me this morning.

I ate some lunch and talked to Cole and Reagan, then basically just hung out and played with the baby for a while. Dad had sliced his hand open while trying to cut a frozen lasagna in half. Eve for some reason was just insisting that the whole thing was too much for dinner. I don't know why they couldn't just have some left over, but apparently that was just a huge problem. So Dad spent a good part of the afternoon getting stitches, since he is on a massive dose of Coumadin and they couldn't get the bleeding stopped. He came home and passed out in his chair.

About 5 or so, Eve was fixing dinner, and I took off. Donnie's party started at 7:30, and I was still sleepy and drug-out feeling. I wanted to lie down for a bit before I got ready for the party. So I took another little cat-nap.

***

Donnie's party was lovely, as usual. The regulars were there and it was good to see everyone, as always. The tree, of course, was gorgeous. Donnie collects Christmas ornaments, and has a 14-foot tree it takes him a week to put up. It's absolutely amazing. There were a lot of people though, and I spent a lot of time outside smoking just because it was so crowded in the house.

I brought an egg-shaped ornament painted to look like a Faberge` egg for the "Dirty Santa" game we play every year. It was really pretty, and looked a lot more expensive than it actually was. The game was a lot of fun, as always. Everyone enjoyed the cool presents, and laughed at the gag gifts. There is a certain mercenary undertone to the game, which is pretty usual. Originally, there was a price limit of $5 on gifts, but that has pretty much fallen by the wayside. There were a lot of nice things this year.

Unfortunately, some people take the mercenary thing too far. There is one regular guest at Donnie's parties who is one of those people who just can't bear to lose at anything. He's a helluva guy, and he would give you the shirt off his back unless he's playing a game.

For those unfamiliar with Dirty Santa game:
- Everyone brings a gift
- Everyone who brings a gift draws a number
- When your number is called, you can either unwrap a gift, or steal one that has already been opened. (We allow two steals and then the gift is out of the game)
- If your gift is stolen, you can open a new gift, or steal a present from someone else (some people have the rule that if your gift is stolen, you must open a new one)
- The game ends when the person who had number 1 decides if he wants to keep his gift, or steal a gift still in the game (since he didn't get a chance to steal when he went first)
- If he decides to steal, he exchanges his gift for the one he wants, and the game is over.

In theory, and for most groups of friends, much hilarity ensues.

But we have a problem with this one guy almost every year. Last year, he stole some pictures that were out of the game already, and headed to his car with them. Donnie turned the numbers over to me to call, and had to go after him to get them back. This year, unfortunately, the person with number one decided to take his gift at the end of the game. When he went to exchange his gift with Mr. Competitive, though, he said "I don't want that. You put that back under the tree. I'm going to go steal a gift, since mine got stolen." Well the game was over. Our host was out of the room. This guy starts strolling through, looking at everyone's gifts. I raised my voice and said "The game is over," but was shouted down by a couple of people. He eyed my gift, but several people told him mine was out of the game. I wasn't sure it was, but since I felt he was cheating anyway, I just kept my mouth shut. He started a string of steals which one woman finally broke by just getting a new gift from under the tree.

I guess it's a petty thing to be pissed about, but it just takes all the fun out of it the way he acts. This is supposed to be a friendly thing, but it just can't be for him unless he gets what he wants. He usually does.

Incidentally, that game was the cause of one of my most embarrassing moments EVER (and there have been some lu-lus!) Michael and I had gone to the party one year, and Donnie's mother was still living with him at the time. She unwrapped a beautiful Santa ornament, and everyone ah'ed over it, but of course no one stole it from her. I started teasing Michael (who was painfully shy) about that we were going to steal Miss Ruby's ornament. He of course was mortified at the very thought, which just made it that much more fun. It never crossed my mind in a million years he would take me seriously, or actually do it! When our number came up, I turned, horrified, to see him headed across the floor to the chair where she was sitting. I was yelling for him to come back, but he couldn't hear me over all the chatter in the room. Time got slow, like in a nightmare. He stole her ornament, and then announced that it was my idea! Needless to say I could have dug a hole and pulled it in after me. I was absolutely mortified, and of course instantly became the pariah of the party. Miss Ruby gave the ornament up with good grace, AND it was stolen from us by the person who had number one that year, sending us home with a crappy gift. That's how I KNOW how the game ends. I will never forget it if I live to be 105.