Christmas Party

Since Jared got a new job in May, this past Saturday was our first time going to the Christmas party.  His boss always rents a room at a fancy steak restaurant.  So, I spent 2 hours triple barrelling my hair, put on the dress I wore as my sister’s matron of honor over 4 years ago and away we went.  We stopped at a couple of stores on our way there and it was kind of fun to have people turn and look at us.  I haven’t gotten that since I was pregnant!  Supper got started almost right after we got there and it was a 5 course dinner!  First there was cheese garlic bread and regular garlic bread.  I totally went for the cheesy one.  Round 2 was a choice of appetizer and Jared + I both chose baby back ribs.  Delicious!  Round 3 was soup or salad and we both chose caesar salad.  That was the only part that actually tasted a little bit funny.  Not sure why but it was different than other caesar salads I’ve had.  Round 4 was the main course and we both picked filet mignon.  That was my first time having that kind of steak and I have to say it was the best steak I’ve ever had.  I went for medium this time (I've often asked for medium well) and it was absolutely delicious!  Round 5 was either berry cheesecake or some sort of super rich chocolate ganache cake.  Jared picked the cheesecake, so I decided to try the chocolate.  It was WAY too rich.  I ate most of it because I felt bad leaving it on my plate, but I think I paid for that the next day, as my stomach felt off the whole day.  I couldn’t even eat any food at our Christmas gathering yesterday!  Oh well. 

After supper, they had an absolutely hilarious magician do a really great show!  His website is Anders Magic.  I was laughing the whole time!  He caught me texting and made me go up to the front, which was really embarrassing.  I had to pick an animal cracker from a box, not show him and then he would draw whichever animal was in my hand.  Jared told me later that all of his animals were the same and then after I would tell the audience what was in my hand, he would quickly add a couple of things to make it the right animal, which I didn’t realize.  I got to take home a picture of a giraffe, which my kids love! 

Tickets were pulled all evening for prizes that Jared’s boss bought, but our tickets didn’t get pulled.  There were a couple of $100 restaurant gift cards, a couple of $300 hotel gift cards, a $500 gift card for a mall, an iPad mini, some other really nice things and a couple of gag gifts.  At the end, every employee gets the same gift and we got a 2-night stay at a hotel with a water park in a city a few hours away!  We’re thinking of leaving Haley with someone, since she wouldn’t enjoy or appreciate it and taking Kiera + Blake for a week-end some time in the new year.  We were so blessed to have such a great evening and to be given a wonderful gift!