Our friend Michelle opened her home to guests today for a St. Nicholas Day party starting at 4:00 P.M. and lasting into the night. Susan and I and others were invited to stop by whenever we liked, stay as long as we could, enjoy some savory snacks and Christmas baking and adult beverages and holiday music playing in the background, and visit. Because Susan and I had another engagement for the evening, we went to Michelle's close to 4:00 with some food to share and then left after about 90 minutes.
It was still a small crowd at that point, but we were thoroughly entertained by family tales told by Michelle and her brothers about having had their mother as their English teacher decades earlier. Their mom, who was one of Susan's favorite teachers, happened to be there, too, and was such a good sport as her kids gleefully shared horror stories about how much harder she was on them than on other students simply because she didn't want to appear to be favoring them. When one son received from her a lower grade than he had actually earned, he even reported her to the department chair, who brought the issue to the mom/teacher only to have her admit that she had indeed recorded an undeservedly low grade . . . just to show him that he would have to work to get a good grade from her! This they all shared with chuckles and no animosity whatsoever--surreal.
Our next engagement was the Christmas party for the faculty at the high school where Susan teaches. The group rented St. Anthony Hall for a buffet supper of sirloin tips, marinated turkey, and tasty side dishes. When we arrived, Susan and I sat with Leslie (her high school classmate and friend and now her colleague at the school) and Dave for pre-meal beverages and visiting. We were joined by our neighbors Naomi and Keith (she: Susan's colleague; he: my former colleague, now retired from the university) and by Kirk, a current paraprofessional who once was a student of Leslie and Naomi.
Besides the tasty food, the highlight of the night was definitely the opening of the gifts. The custodians in charge of party planning (yes, the janitors plan the faculty Christmas party . . .) made sure that everyone there would have a present to open and handed out wrapped gifts from Family Dollar. My gift? A precious ceramic knickknack of a little pajama-ed brown boy kneeling serenely beside his teddy bear on a gigantic pillow atop an even more gargantuan Bible that is hinged and opens to reveal hidden storage (with the capacity to hold perhaps six quarters or one large gumdrop). The jokes about my little brown boy sustained our conversation throughout the remainder of the night.
There was some visiting with other faculty members (including an outgoing administrator who became even more gregarious with each drink) and some laughing over the drawing for door prizes (significantly better than ceramic knickknacks, but none of them went to us) and some shivering as we found, on our way back to our vehicle to return home, that the temperature had dropped, as had much fresh snow. Pretty sure that no part of our evening truly honored the memory or mission of St. Nicholas, but we did legitimately celebrate, and it was truly St. Nicholas Day, so I'm thinking that it's okay to say with impunity, "We celebrated St. Nicholas Day."
It was still a small crowd at that point, but we were thoroughly entertained by family tales told by Michelle and her brothers about having had their mother as their English teacher decades earlier. Their mom, who was one of Susan's favorite teachers, happened to be there, too, and was such a good sport as her kids gleefully shared horror stories about how much harder she was on them than on other students simply because she didn't want to appear to be favoring them. When one son received from her a lower grade than he had actually earned, he even reported her to the department chair, who brought the issue to the mom/teacher only to have her admit that she had indeed recorded an undeservedly low grade . . . just to show him that he would have to work to get a good grade from her! This they all shared with chuckles and no animosity whatsoever--surreal.
Our next engagement was the Christmas party for the faculty at the high school where Susan teaches. The group rented St. Anthony Hall for a buffet supper of sirloin tips, marinated turkey, and tasty side dishes. When we arrived, Susan and I sat with Leslie (her high school classmate and friend and now her colleague at the school) and Dave for pre-meal beverages and visiting. We were joined by our neighbors Naomi and Keith (she: Susan's colleague; he: my former colleague, now retired from the university) and by Kirk, a current paraprofessional who once was a student of Leslie and Naomi.
Besides the tasty food, the highlight of the night was definitely the opening of the gifts. The custodians in charge of party planning (yes, the janitors plan the faculty Christmas party . . .) made sure that everyone there would have a present to open and handed out wrapped gifts from Family Dollar. My gift? A precious ceramic knickknack of a little pajama-ed brown boy kneeling serenely beside his teddy bear on a gigantic pillow atop an even more gargantuan Bible that is hinged and opens to reveal hidden storage (with the capacity to hold perhaps six quarters or one large gumdrop). The jokes about my little brown boy sustained our conversation throughout the remainder of the night.
There was some visiting with other faculty members (including an outgoing administrator who became even more gregarious with each drink) and some laughing over the drawing for door prizes (significantly better than ceramic knickknacks, but none of them went to us) and some shivering as we found, on our way back to our vehicle to return home, that the temperature had dropped, as had much fresh snow. Pretty sure that no part of our evening truly honored the memory or mission of St. Nicholas, but we did legitimately celebrate, and it was truly St. Nicholas Day, so I'm thinking that it's okay to say with impunity, "We celebrated St. Nicholas Day."
'Twas a fun evening -- and thanks to Aunt Kathy for watching the girls. They had as much (or possibly more) fun as we did!
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