: 'Crossing the Divide' by Patrick O'Hearn
: Mellow

Tonight was the Christmas party for what I suppose would best be said to be the gang from work. It's mostly one department plus a few more of us who tend to socialise with them. We all did a Secret Santa sort of thing, then met together at someone's home to exchange gifts, eat, etc.

I got a book by Philip Pullman called Lyra's Oxford. It's a companion to His Dark Materials and includes, among other things, a map pullout of otherworld Oxford.

I really loved the effect of my presents on the woman whose name I'd drawn. I was able to buy five candles and a cookbook within the $10 price range using creative shopping and dollar outlets/bargain book tables and had wrapped each piece in bold holographic paper in a variety of colours and then put in a similar bag of seemingly never-ending goodies with more of the foil paper, all of which N liked so much she saved the paper, too. I have to admit, I really love presentation, whether it's food, wrapping, or whatever.

I had a lot of fun, actually. D and I went together, and we were the first on the scene, which was a little daunting. But...it was a very pleasant get together. Earlier I'd gone over to D's to wrap the presents (it's hard for me to find anyplace that isn't subject to cats laying on the paper. Fortunately, D's kitties arent' quite as 'in your face', although at one point Midnight got up into the Christmas tree and Simba, after a couple playful taps on a roll of shiny paper, tried to maul it completely. :) But without claws, he wasn't able to actually damage it.

One of our co-workers brought her sons. So much energy! And they were just like cats, taking the paper and running around the house with it on their heads and playing with the doorstops because they vibrated and made a sort of farting noise. Ah, to be 8 years old again. Although I don't remember being quite that hyper. :) There were many goodies, including a pumpkin dip which basically was similar to a cheesecake recipe but unbaked, and very tasty. I've decided that there isn't anything you can do with pumpkin I wouldn't like.

It was a nice day, overall. D was a little annoyed with Blogger for having the bad taste to crash during a long, cathartic post. I hope she'll write again, anyway. Oh, and when we went over to D's house before the party one of her new neighbours said hi and she went to introduce us and turns out it's a woman from the chorus I used to sing in. Which also makes it funny, because that means D and E have lesbians in three houses on either side of them. I half think E's afraid she'll go along with the trend. :)

Well, I guess that's enough for now. 'Night.