M-A-M-A, I know how you got that way!

Ben's office had a Christmas party at the beginning of December. I've gotta tell you - Ben's office work parties are so dang much fun. The little secretary gal that puts them together really makes them interesting and non-awkward. I have been to many an awkward office party in my life, but I look forward to Ben's.

First I have to give a shout-out to Lex. Ben forgot to tell me about the party, and no kids were invited, so I only had a few hours to find a sitter. She came up at the last second, all the way from Poky, to watch my kids so Ben and I could go to this. Thanks a billion, Lex. I appreciated that so much.

First was a wonderful catered meal from Famous Dave's. Yummm. Here am I, eagerly standing in line for food:

After we ate, we had a canned food sculpture contest. Each division of the company competed against each other, making sculptures out of cans of food, and then after the party, the cans were given to a local food bank. A great idea. It was really fun to see what people came up with. Each group was assigned a thing to sculpt. Here are the results...

A snowflake:

A snowman:

A wreath:

Hanging Mistletoe:

Get it? Hanging... missile... toe. That was my favorite one.

Ben's group got assigned "candy cane." They were all ambitious, wanting to make the candy cane actually stand up, so they tried to sculpt it up around a chair. It didn't work out so well, so they hastily made a flat candy cane on the floor:

Needless to say, they didn't win the contest. The snowflake actually won. (I thought the "hanging mistletoe" should have won.)

Ben's boss's wife and I sat and chatted while we watched our men trying, in vain, to balance these cans against this chair. She and her hubs live in an older house, in a neighborhood similar to ours. It's really a cute house. It has a lot of character, as ours does. She and I were talking about the pros and cons of living in an older house in this neighborhood. Well, maybe just the cons... Her name is Devin (Pooh, you should get a good laugh out of that - personal joke!). This is how our conversation went:

Devin: You know, looking back, I kind of wish we had moved into one of those manufactured homes. So much less work.

Me: No kidding. No sewer lines that have tree roots growing through them.

Devin: No drug dealers. Or maybe less drug dealers.

Me: You have drug dealers on your street, too?

Devin: Yeah! You?

Me: Yep.

Devin: It's like a regular drive-through window.

Me: No kidding.

Devin: And I'm tired of having to mother everyone on the whole street.

Me: ME TOO!!

Devin: I only have the energy to mother my own kids, thank you.

Me: I know exactly what you're talking about.

Devin: But we were all, "Ooooh, we're artistic! Let's move into this house, because it's different!"

Me: Oh, I know. Ben was like, "Manufacured homes take away peoples' identity..."

Devin: "And how else will the poorer neighborhoods be improved, unless people who care about their houses and property move in and stay?" What a crock.

Me: No kidding. I'm fine "losing my identity," as long as my sewer line doesn't back up every two months.

Devin: Me, too. It would be nice for my daughter and son not to have to share a room!

Me: It would be nice not to have bounty hunters breaking into the house across the street.

It was fun to talk to someone who has some of the same frustrations I've been feeling. I mean, I adore my ward. And I like that our house has its own little personality. I'd just like to have an updated sewer line. And a living room that actually gets warm. :) And, you know, no drug dealers. But I know that every house and every neighborhood has problems. That's the biz of homeownership, right?

Anyways. After the sculpture contest, they had the greatest little activity - each person was given a little chime instrument thingey. Each chime had a number painted on it, and each chime was a different note. Then they had these big posters that had different Christmas carols on them, with numbers instead of notes. We would all look at the poster and play our chime when it was time to. I seriously had so much fun doing that, although my note was a scarce one in the song. I only got to play my chime once. :( Here's Ben, playing his chime:

He also had a seldom-used note, so he improvised and added his chime in whenever he felt like it. It was really funny.

Then several dudes from the office put together a skit. They sang a song like the 12 Days of Christmas, but it was based on the office's experiences for the year. It was really clever and funny.

My favorite part was the part that the dude in the blue and red cheerleading outfit did. I actually know him from high school - his name is Keldon. He was a yell-leader. When some girls in the office found that out, they gave him so much crap about it. So he decided to play it up. When it was his turn, "Three cheers from Keldon," he would do three different cheers. It was hilarious. My favorite cheer was,

U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi,

You're ugly,

Yeah, yeah,

You're ugly!

M-A-M-A, I know how you got that way,

Your mama!

Yeah, yeah,

Your mama!

I was laughing so hard. I had heard the U-G-L-Y part, but I hadn't ever heard the M-A-M-A part. It was great.

So anyways. Hooray for actually fun office parties.