It's a Major Award!!!

Ben's office throws seriously fun Christmas parties every year.  I always feel a bit awkward at first, because I don't know ANYONE, but sooner or later, I work the ole' Kar Magic on whoever we're sitting by and become friends with them.  A couple of years ago, we sat next to a couple and I couldn't crack 'em.  Which was perplexing to me.  There usually isn't a nut I can't crack. 

This year's couple took lots of Kar Magic, but by the end of the night, we were chatting like old friends. :)

I wasn't sure I'd feel well enough to go - I ran out of my second bottle of hydrocodone today and started using Extra Strength Tylenol.  The pain was okayyyy - I was a little more tender than usual at my incision site, but it was tolerable.  It was the sheer exhaustion that really hit me.  I wanted to sleep all day long.  I felt like a zombie.  Walking around in a tired daze, bumping into stuff...  Even ten minutes before we left, I was lying in my bed, going, "Ohhhhhhhh....."

But I got my butt up and we went, and I felt better and better as the night wore on.

We had a white elephant gift exchange; I loooove those.  We did one at a work party back when I taught school, and we laughed and laughed.

I was number 49:

The guy sitting behind me was also at our table.  He's super-duper nice. 

Through some very strategic moves, Ben and I scored an A Christmas Story lamp!!!

We are both seriously so excited.  We set it up as soon as we got home:

Fra-gi-lay.  It must be Italian!

It's not as big as the one in the movie, which is fine with me.  Oh, and the wrong size of lightbulb is in it.  Which is why the lampshade is cockamaymee.  We need to go get a smaller lightbulb, and then it will be just perfect. 

One of the waiters stopped me on our way down the stairs to leave the party, and he was like, "I am so jealous of you.  I'm seriously thinking of offering you money for that." I chuckled.  It really is so cool.