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#Post#: 16507--------------------------------------------------
Tribal Party 2019
By: Jack Date: December 21, 2019, 7:49 am
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The Tribal Party is tonight, and I've had a couple of questions
when I mentioned it, so I thought I'd say a bit more in public.
First - we're going to be stuffing ourselves tonight, so we're
going to have a huge brunch with eggnog pancakes this morning
and snack lightly for lunch.
Because of Church and younger kids, we'll start getting together
about 6pm tonight. The party will pretty much go until everyone
goes home. We'll have a lot of boys sleeping over tonight, but
not all of them. It really doesn't make much difference, since
a lot of them collapse almost as soon as the parents leave.
The Tribal Party is something we've been doing for a long, long
time. It really goes back all the way to the 90s, when it was
just my gaming group's Christmas party. It's a party for those
people with whom I'm closest - the ones who are family despite a
blood relationship. Especially over the last 10 to 15 years,
that's changed, so it's become more about the families to whom
my family is close.
Our regular guests include the Malones, Marchants, Tidwells,
Dugans, Strouses, Joyces, Ames, Cavanaughs, McCalls, Mintzs,
Guthries - if their kids spend a lot of time over here, call me
Uncle Jack, and you've read about me spanking one or more of
them, there's a good chance they'll be here.
Of course, that changes every year. Some of my dear friends
like the Lanes and (ones where I loved the kids, but wasn't
quite so close to the parents, like) the Hogans are no longer
living in this area. But we make up with that by adding new
families almost every year, like the Kings, Petermans, Jacksons,
Vaugns, Lamars, Ewings, Suttons, Rawlings, McCleods, and
Edwards.
For a while, we tried to invite only families with younger kids.
Santa appears and hands out gifts, so it seemed more suited to
them. As my closest friends aged out of that (and as things
expanded outside the house), we changed that. Santa only hands
out gifts to the 10s and under these days, but he leaves other
gifts for older kids and families on a table, where everyone can
find their own (giving Santa a chance to quietly head
ho-ho-home).
Yes, we're expecting between 130 and 150 people for this.
Yes, it's a pajama party.
Yes, there is a TON of food (pretty much all stuff that can be
picked up and eaten by finger or with a cocktail sword, though
we do have little containers for dips and sauces.
Yes, this is set up outside, in a pair or large tents, with
plenty of open space to mingle and talk, plenty of tables to eat
and play (and plenty of games, cards, and dominoes with which to
do so), plenty of music, a bit of dance space, and room for the
older kids to get away from the younger kids and the parents).
Yes, we have space heaters (there are also air conditioners
available).
Yes, we are using a 'trail-loo'. It's a 24' trailer with two
separate accomadations - 2 stalls, 3 urinals, and 2 sinks for
the gentlemen, 4 stalls and 3 sinks for the ladies, and a hot
water heater.
Yes, we have Christmas trees in the tents, and the tents are
hung with other Christmas decorations.
No, we don't have a fireplace.
#Post#: 16524--------------------------------------------------
Re: Tribal Party 2019
By: Jack Date: December 22, 2019, 8:13 am
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Things went great last night.
It's always an interesting mix when I do things like this,
because there are a number of Bernie supporters amongst my
friends, but we also have some arch-conservatives and even a few
people who probably think Trump is good (they promise not to
talk about that, and I promise not to try to indoctrinate them
into the Church of Satan). More importantly, we have those who
think beer and wine are good, and others who think having a
Seagram's wine cooler is equivalent to getting fallen down drunk
and rolling in the gutter, as well as those who think simply
dancing is a sin.
It takes some sobriety, some tolerance, careful editing of what
we might like to discuss, and a bit of looking the other way,
but we manage to survive the occasional night together.
It's hard to say too much about it that makes it sound as good
as it was. We have a lot of tables - basically card tables -
set up, and there are plenty of board games, cards, and
dominoes, so people have plenty of choices of something to do.
There is a lot of standing around, visiting, and grazing going
on. People who haven't had a chance to see each other in a
while group and talk, and eventually they start settling down.
I guess it's not really a party like a lot of people think of
them, but it's a lot of the things that I want at Christmas - a
real feeling of family (even if I don't agree with all of them
all the time), closeness, and comfort. We're warm, we're well
fed, and we can just enjoy the good things in life for a while.
We start gathering at 6pm and by 6:30, everyone is usually
there. Santa comes around 7:45, and you can feel the tension
building in the kids who are young enough to get excited by
Santa, but old enough to remember (which is a lot of them right
now, since Curtis is considered in that group).
After trying a few different things, Santa's presents (for the
kids) always break into one of three groups - replayable
puzzles, non-electronic games, or books (usually some of the
very nice DK books). Those give the kids things to explore,
play, and share the rest of the evening. The adult/family gifts
are usually more edible - sometimes breakfast stuff or specialty
foods, or snacks and/or chocolate, combined with hot cocoa (or
maybe wine) - stuff to keep the family munching through the rest
of the holidays.
The way my life is, I rarely get to spend as much time as I want
to just visiting with people. And honestly, there are a lot of
times that's not what I want to do. I'm a quiet, somewhat
withdrawn person, and a lot of the time, I'd rather be reading.
But times like last night when I can just have people I love
around me - those are what make the other times worth going on.
And did I mention it IS a pajama party?
While there have been complaints over the yeas, most of the
people have settled down and accepted that it is what it is.
It's probably fun when someone knew is invited (especially the
teenage boys), but they all seem to settle down and relax once
they get here and see that everyone else really is doing it.
And it leads to some great moments, like a handsome athletic guy
like 22-year old Blake Cavanaugh showing up in a hooded,
reindeer onsie (and the hood has a reindeer face and antlers!).
Or 14-year old Dash Jackson, who's still small for his age, but
who's been growing recently, wearing a pair of candy cane
striped pajama bottoms that barely reached his ankle and were
snug enough to show he wasn't wearing undies beneath them (his
t-shirt (stop elfing around) was big enough you had to be paying
attention to notice).
So yeah, I'm tired, and there's a mess in the tents to clean,
and it's probably going to be just as crazy tonight in another
way (Cousins' Night, which means most of my kids, most of my
nieces and nephews, and most of the grands will be here), but
it's worth it.
#Post#: 16525--------------------------------------------------
Re: Tribal Party 2019
By: Zyngaru Date: December 22, 2019, 8:32 am
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Happy for you. Getting to visit with friends. Keeping the
heated debates to a minimum. Hey. Families argue and fight with
each other, but let someone outside interfere and they will have
the whole family on them in a minute. Sounds like a fun
evening.
I couldn't have done it though. I am extremely anti-social. I
don't do crowds. If I had to be there I would have been in the
darkest corner by myself attempting to blend in with the walls.
I do enjoy watching people though. You can do some good people
watching from a dark corner.
I'm pretty sure my people watching would have found out Dash and
his "little" secret. That would have made being in the crowd
worth it. Bad! Bad! I'm so bad! Actually, I would have
watched all the people. Just some would have caught my
attention more than others.
Glad you had a good time.
#Post#: 16528--------------------------------------------------
Re: Tribal Party 2019
By: db105 Date: December 22, 2019, 12:07 pm
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That huge pajama party must be a blast ;D
#Post#: 16529--------------------------------------------------
Re: Tribal Party 2019
By: Jack Date: December 22, 2019, 12:31 pm
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Not bad at all, Zyng - I certainly enjoyed it.
While people certainly aren't forced to participate, and while
there is plenty of room to sit by yourself for a while or sneak
outside if the weather's not too bad, you have to remember that
many of us have been friends for longer than this forum (the
original one, I mean) has been around. Kim Malone was Van's
first grade teacher (he's a senior this year) and I've known
Dean Marchant for about as long as I've known the Malones.
Dillon Simpson is 40 this year, and I've known him since he was
10. I've known his two sons literally their entire life. While
I haven't known everyone that long, I think it's fair to say
that we know each other - both well enough to know who's company
we enjoy most and to know who might need a bit more alone time
than others. As long as you were careful to keep the drool
wiped away, I'm sure you would have been accepted here as well.
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