So last night was Casa Brillig’s annual Holiday Open House. Aside from the fact we’re apparently tactical soldiers in the War On Christmas, it’s a holiday party because it is Not. On. December 25th and therefore is NOT a Christmas party. We aren’t fancy party people; this was cookies, sweets, chips and veggies with salsa/dip/hummus, a cheese plate, and meatballs because we have to offer something that isn’t either cheese or carbs. We invite people to bring instruments and usually some sort of singing breaks out midway through. We invite friends from all the parts and places in our lives, and somehow they all intersect and occasionally we have an It’s A Small World moment. Nobody gets trashed, everyone has casual fun, and we have a really clean house for a couple of days :). And so it was I saw something by The Bloggess this morning on the subject of holiday parties that will make excellent conversational material tonight. Grab some eggnog, Winter Warmer ale, or seltzer and a plate of food (yes, you can take as many of the addictive crack saltine cookies as you’d like), and join us below after a word from our sponsor.
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I adore The Bloggess aka Jenny Lawson and I suspect many of you are familiar with her work. She is a prolific writer whose latest book is her experience dealing with depression and anxiety. On Facebook yesterday morning was this public post:
"I'm having a holiday party and you're not invited because I know you hate parties and my gift to you is not making you come up with an excuse for not coming. Unless you want to come, in which case you can totally crash the party for however many seconds you can stand it. There will be a dog there you can hang out with in the corner if things get weird." THIS IS WHAT FRIENDSHIP LOOKS LIKE, PEOPLE.
It got me to thinking about the parties we throw, and the ones we tend to be invited to, which isn’t all that many because somehow we seem not to be on the party circuit and don’t know what this situation called ‘conflicting holiday party invites’ feels like :-). At our party last nite people seemed to drift into one of three rooms: living room, dining room, and kitchen. Each had a distinct flavor. The living room was where K1’s friends congregated, on the couch (did you know seven teenagers fit on one couch? They do!), floor or around the piano. Musician types were there too. The dining room had people who are most comfortable chatting around the food table, balancing plate or drink. The kitchen contained two active knitters, one knitter who wished she’d brought her supplies, and those for whom the dining or living room were too loud or busy. Our two can ines wandered around hoping for dropped food and attention, and more than one person quietly dropped out of socializing for a while for some quality doggie time.
I like to think this makes parties at our house less threatening to people for whom social anxiety makes the concept of getting together with dozens of people sound as much fun as attending a Trump rally. No one is forced to be social; it’s understood that the kitchen is a quieter place and no one will require you to engage in the dreaded sport of Cocktail Party Conversation. A brief ‘where do you fit into the scheme of things’ and then chat can move to either “here doggie!” or “hey, are those socks or a hat?”
When I go to any sort of function, I am definitely a ‘hover near the food until I find someone who has a shared interest OR I can pet the dog’ person. I eventually get comfortable enough to be social, and then the rest of the family has to drag me away when it’s time to go. What sort of person are you at parties… a social butterfly, or someone who hopes for the kind of friends who will understand that a distinct non-invite is the kindest one of all? Let’s bring a virtual gathering to the comments! BeninSC is going to get us started with what you actually come here for, the Top Comments, Mojo and Pictures that form the basis for this party!
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From thanatokephaloides:
My nomination for tonight's TC is this comment by FishOutofWater. It states that the new Global Climate Agreement "is as weak as hospital coffee." With which I agree. I just loved how FishOutofWater said it!
From TrixieB:
In the midst of a very -- lively -- discussion in sholmberg's diary about the response to the historic Paris agreement, Delilah really nails it as to why this is a day to celebrate. Thank you for your sharing your truly relevant perspective.
From gharlane:
I saw this one late, but wanted to send it along.
You really need the diary and a few of the other comments in the thread for context, but I found this comment by flitedocnm to be an excellent summary of a major dilemma in the Democratic Party. In Geenius at Wrok’s fine rec-list diary.
From yours truly, brillig:
In Laurence Lewis' diary The privileged idiocy of 'Just let the Republicans win', Denise Oliver Velez wonders if people who say that are holding out for purity.
Top Mojo for Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on Top Mojo.
2015-12-13 Top Comments with Pictures, courtesy of jotter!