Weekend Parties

So here's the rundown on the past weekend of holiday parties:

Friday, December 14, Party #1: The Manhattan Stake singles Christmas party. The best thing about this party was that everyone had been preassigned the name of a needy child to buy a Christmas present for, and the idea was to bring the gift to the party to be collected. It was really fun to think of the perfect thing to buy for a little 6-year old girl. The worst thing about the party was that it, like all the stake activities I've been to here, was very poorly organized. Tables were set up so that after you dropped off your gift you could get some refreshments and sit down and talk to other people, but that was the extent of the party. No activities, not even an opening prayer or anything. Still, this party was not without its benefits, because my sister and I had a wonderful time getting to know our home teacher, Mr. Allred, a little better. He showed us how fun it could be to try and stack m'n'ms, and he dared E to pour the bowl of candy that was on the table into her purse and take it home, which she did.

Sunday, December 16, Party #2: The Inwood 3rd Ward singles after-church-minglefest-with-creative-cocoa. Yes, that party title was made up by one of the guys in the elder's quorum. At this party I learned that vanilla ice cream tastes delicious in hot cocoa, but when eaten with chocolate chip cookies from your home teacher when you haven't had anything else to eat since breakfast, you get a stomachache. I'm not complaining--the cookies were delicious, which is why I ate two! And the best part was on the subway ride home when my roommate got out her violin and we sang Christmas carols all the way home in the subway car.

Sunday, December 16, Party #3: Harlem Ward singles Christmas party at our house. My other roommate is in the Harlem Ward, which has its fair share of single adults, who are a very diverse and interesting group. A fair number of them came to this party, for which E and I made elaborate and festive decorations made out of construction paper, including a paper chain that almost stretched the length of three stories worth of staircase. The best thing about this party was the food, which included yummy treats made by my roommate and me, and all the food that the guests brought. But I tried not to eat any of it, because of the my earlier sugar overdose. The other best thing about this party was the people, several of whom I got to know a little better. I must have been in high spirits because E says I was flirting with everyone. I didn't think I was flirting, but I must have been because now I have a Haitian guy who keeps calling me. Still, I think everyone had a great time at our house, because while they ate food and talked, we gave them pretty paper to fold and cut into gorgeous snowflakes, that we could use as decorations on our little tree. Now its really pretty.

Monday, December 17, Party #4: Inwood Singles Ward Christmas Party. This might have been the most entertaining party of all. The Inwood Singles ward is full of talented singers, actors, and dancers, so they all combined to form an unforgettable night of fun. The idea here was to bring canned food for a charity, for which you would get "money" that you could then use to bid with in an auction for services by wardmembers--things like "A dinner for two cooked by Martha" or "a Tuba-gram." The guy doing the auctioneering was better than stand-up comedy, and in between the auctions were performances of holiday songs by different people--all really great. Meanwhile, every table was given the task of building a graham-cracker and candy house, which would be judged at the end of the night for prizes. A guy dressed as Santa, complete with toilet-paper beard, wended his way through the crowd, handing out more money, keeping the bidders supplied. I did a lot of laughing, which was great. And I realized, as I wished people Merry Christmas at the end of the night, that I have made some good friends here, and met a lot of really great people.