Three years ago, my British friend, Becca was telling me how much she missed singing Christmas carols around the piano with friends. She then pointedly reminded me that I had a piano. Within a week, Don and I threw our first annual Conkey Christmas Caroling and Wassail party.
It was so much fun having friends come over and sing while I ineptly but cheerfully plunked out some accompaniment on the piano; it quickly became my favorite family Christmas tradition (well, one that we've created entirely on our own, anyway).
So, least year, we had another fabulous party and this year, we had our 3rd annual Conkey Christmas Caroling Party and 1st annual Ugly Sweater Party. And it was awesome. We had so many people want to come that I moved the party from my apartment to the community room to accommodate everyone. The sweaters were fabulous and I attempted to make my first tissue paper bon bons. I didn't follow the directions exactly and they looked more like feathery rugby balls than perfectly round balls, but they were cute. Everyone brought finger foods to share and we put the lyrics up on three laptops so everyone could see the words.
Sam and Kaia visiting Kelli in her awesomely ugly sweater.
The crew. I wish I'd gotten a close up of Staci's sweater. She bought a hideous white turtleneck to wear under it and safety pinned the sweater across her pregnant belly. Oh, it was a beautiful thing.
My focus face as I accompanied the singing.
You can see Chiyo, Kyle, Sean, Staci, Adam, Deanna, Sienna, Laurie-Anne, William, Ulli, Doris, Maya, Maggie, Candee, Neil, Evan, Willam Shauna, Rodney, Kelli, Scott, Elsie, Sam, and Jesse in this picture. We have so many great friends.
And here are a couple family pictures of our ugly sweaters (and one of my mishapen tissue bon bons).
Don's laughing face made me so happy. Sam was smiley whilst being uber squirmy. Funny kid.
My wonderful friend, Tasha, came to visit us so she could walk in her graduation at CU. She was one of my very first friends here in Boulder (we moved here the first week) and she and I stayed close throughout the time she lived here. She and her fam (she and her husband have the cutest little boy and girl) moved back to Virginia this summer and I've missed her. I was so thrilled when she told me she was coming for graduation and told her to come sleep at my house. We had a great time making and eating good food, getting fancy cupcakes, watching chick flicks and generally just having a good time. She is someone that I could live with forever. She is so easy going and helpful and just fun to be around. I felt really lonely when she left. It was so nice having her with me all the time.
Tash getting ready for her graduation ceremony.
A little game of living room baseball (rough on the decor and furniture, but too much fun to resist).
Sam absolutely loved hanging out with Tasha. She build countless towers with him and when she left, he kept saying "Where'd Tasha go? When is she coming back?"
One funny story about Sam and Tash. Tash has really curly hair and usually wears it in a bun or in braids. One morning after her shower, she came down with it wild and curly and Sam whispered to me, "She has crazy hair!" It made me laugh.
Another story: On Saturday, December 3rd, my good friend Kelli and I were out for a jog on the Boulder Creek Path. We headed on my usual route and ran under the bridge that goes under Arapahoe (right before it crosses Foothills). There is a man that hides in the shadows under the bridge that scares the be-jebers out of me and he is always there whenever it is rainy, snowy, or overcast. A friend in Family Housing jokingly calls him the neighborhood masturbator because we all know what he's doing under there.
Anyway, on this particular day, I didn't notice the guy when we ran under the first time but on the way back, I saw him and he flashed me. Kelli didn't see him, which was lucky for her. Anyway, I called the cops immediately after I got home and unfortunately, they never called me back.
On Saturday, December 17th, I had gone out for a quick run between Family Housing Holiday events (Westend had a breakfast in the morning and Newton had a Storytime with Santa in the afternoon). It was around 2 pm, which is a high traffic time of day (I only run at high traffic times of day because there are a large number of homeless and unstable people around Boulder). I ran under the bridge and the man was sitting in a hollow directly on the path but wasn't visible until you came right up on him. He startled me and as usual, had his hands in his pants.
I had to come back the same way to get home in time to make it to the event in Newton so I ran under the bridge again. As I ran by the man, he was struggling in his pants and as I looked back, he waggled at me. Ugh. I wasn't going to call the police since they hadn't called me back the previous time I'd reported the man but a friend convinced me I had a civic duty to report the crime. So, I called and immediately, an officer called back and told me they were at the location and had someone they thought might be the man. I described him and it was the same person so they took him in.
I wrote up a report and since then, I've gotten several calls from the DA's office. The victims assistance people are very concerned about "how difficult and disturbing my experience must have been". It makes me laugh. They call me every time this man has a court date to tell me what is happening in his case. They are required to keep me abreast since I was the victim of a violent crime (any sexual crime is considered violent). It was pretty disgusting and I'm glad the guy is off the path so I can run without worrying about seeing him. Now, though, I got a subpeona and have to appear in court to testify, as does Kelli who didn't even see the man. I'm not looking forward to that - especially since he'll probably get out and start hiding under the bridge again and he'll know I'm the one who put him in the slammer. Atleast he is fed and has a warm bed and maybe he'll get some help.
I didn't get any pictures of the Westend Holiday Breakfast, which was a huge success with about 90 people showing up. I did take a couple pictures during Newton's event, which was really cute. The kids loved Santa reading the stories and enjoyed the cocoa, hot apple cider and cookies.
Deanna's husband Jesse made a wonderful Santa. Hurray for Christmas!
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