A Bubbly Annual Christmas Party

We spent the bulk of our Sunday up in O-town, attending a bigly-deal holiday party. It was Suzanne’s Champagne Garden Club’s annual Christmas shindig. All the Garden Gals and their better halves were there. My, how the champagne did flow! It flowed mostly with orange juice in mimosas, as far as I could tell. And then the bubbly gave way to waves of wine. I had armed myself with a six-pack of my own Bud Zero not-beer, for the occasion and not one person poked fun at me about it at all. Bud Zero contains zero alcohol and no zing, but it does have its share of party bubbles. 🥂🍹🍷(These are the Garden Gals’ make-you-tipsy drinks.) 🍺

(Here is my lone, sad, virgin Bud Zero.)My stomach muscles are a wee bit strained today from all of the jolly laughing I did at the party. The house was roaring and chortling for the duration of our celebration, as it always does at these get-togethers. I can attest that there was way too much tasty food in the kitchen, which always assures a fine party. Exciting gifts abounded, too. I received a bee drink coaster and a bee kitchen towel AND a dark blue bow tie which conceals its very own bottle opener inside of it. I also got a funky, whisk-looking head massager for use on my bald head. (Thanks, Garden Gals.) HO, HO, HO! I win! 🎁

FYI: The Tie o’ the Day I wore is 1 of only 2 new additions to my holiday neckwear collection so far this season. Despite my expert tie-shopping tricks, it’s been impossible for me to find any other worthy pieces of holiday neckwear I don’t already own. ☹️ 🎄

Shoppin’ For Christmas Gifties

In my humble estimation, this jumbo holiday Bow Tie o’ the Day is stark and quietly gorgeous. It evokes the chill and darkness of December nights, leading up to Christmas. It reminds me of bringing in shopping bags from the car, under the dark evening sky. In those jolly bags was the resulting haul of newly purchased gifts, after a busy day of seeking out the exactly right present for each name on my personal naughty-or-nice list.

While out shopping for a few X-mas gifts on Saturday evening, I managed to find myself staring up longingly at a certain scented candle. The candle scent? Maple glazed donut! I thought seriously about stealing a package of matches from another aisle, and lighting up that candle right there in the store—for my own personal smelling pleasure. But my brain kicked in and promptly overruled the desires of my olfactory sense. I decided I didn’t really like the idea of being arrested for shoplifting a match and creating a public nuisance by arson—just so I could smell the mouth-watering aroma of artificial maple-glazed donuts. I did seriously contemplate it for a flash of a second, though. Alas! I am a failed criminal, yet again. In the end, I did the right thing. I settled for breathing-in the existing odor of the Target store in which I stood. Sometimes I dislike following the straight-and-narrow. 🔥🤡