Friday, December 17, 2004

Holiday Fun, Holiday Festivities, Holiday Tension

OK, so the whole Holiday Thing seems to shifting into high gear. Holiday gatherings are comin' fast and furious. so far this week, I've...

... hit pre-Holiday wings and beers with Orkut buddy Glen and a pal from work (Josh) Wednesday night. Sadly, none of our other Orkut-eers could make it. Ray was far too swamped at work to tear himself away, while Marie begged off as she is is apparently recovering from the flu (something tells me she might actually be sort of withdrawing from our little Orkut-based gatherings, but I could be wrong...).

... done appetizers and cocktails with a bunch of former co-workers last night at Eddie V.'s.

.... shopped and spent an obnoxious amount of cash on gifts.

And now, tonight, we have to attend another of our monthly Young Families dinners. This one is being hosted by the incredibly dull Christian Pod People, and we are positively dreading it. These are the folks who don't drink at all, and make a point of mentioning this fact as often as possible. Other than that, the only personal information we've been able to wrestle from them is that they listen to nothing but Contemporary Christian music (eek), almost never watch any television or movies at all due to all the negative imagery and influences (double eeeek), really enjoy reading quietly in the evenings, apparently have children that make no noise or demands of them whatsoever, and met during college while studying to be better Catholics or something. Otherwise, they're like talking to glass coffee tables. Vapid, bland, smiling Christian zombie people.

To make matters worse, they are really into making a big point of how they work hard to keep their lives "simple," and the "theme" for tonight's after-dinner discussion is "Simplicity," so they're ALL about it. Now, I'm still kind of missing what this "simple" lifestyle approach means, exactly. I mean, they're not Amish. But I have figured out, quite quickly, that when it comes to hosting dinner parties "simple" translates directly to "cheap." They're making minestrone for dinner. Dinner is going to be vegetable fucking soup.

I suppose they're making it from scratch, as opposed to opening 5 or 6 cans of Progresso and nuking it in the microwave, but come on now.

We're bringing appetizers. Maybe a bucket of fried chicken as well. And we're trying to determine whether bringing a bottle of wine or 7 to a non-drinking household is a rude gesture, or if in this case it would simply be self-defense. If we don't bring wine, I swear I'm knocking back 2 cocktails before I leave the house. Ugh.

And worst of all, our very dear friends Ginny and Dave are not able to make the dinner this evening, which means it's just us, one other cool couple, and the three new couples. Of the 6 other folks, 1 is really really nice but pregnant and not drinking. 1 is nice in a bland, self-absorbed way, but at least drinks a glass or two of wine and can talk technology. 2 are the aforementioned SuperChristians. And 2 we've never met before, but they are very good friends with the SuperChristians, and the wife is apparently a complete fucking retard.

Quick story: When a very good friend of ours had to have an emergency hysterectomy about 2 months back, this moron stopped by to see how she was doing and then asked her "But Beth, what are you going to do about having children now?" 2 days after our friend has her reproductive system surgically removed, very much against her wishes but very much in order to maintain her health, she has to field a question like that from this moron.

So yeah, should be tons of fun.

Mood: Edgy.
Now Playing: Patty Griffin, "1000 Kisses"

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