Christmas in the Park or Cluster F in the Park?

On Dec. 19th we went to the "Christmas in the Park" event at Fair Park.  Shari was a host this year so we were a lot more involved than we were last year.  We went Friday night to help decorate which was a complete 'cluster F'.  The person in charge didn't know what to tell each person to do and there was no 'game plan' as to where the decorations were going.  There were at least 20 people there to help and about 15 of us were standing around doing nothing.  We were there a good 30 min before anyone found anything for us to do which was to wrap lighted holly around posts and tie red bows to the top.  We stayed about one more hour before calling it quits.  There is only so much time you can stand around until you start thinking of the 100s of things you could be doing instead...like being at home with your 7 week old child or in Shari's case getting a few more billable hours in before your year ends on Dec. 20th.  Anything seemed like a better use of time than standing in a empty pavilion in the one of the most crime ridden areas of Dallas.

Saturday night Shari was supposed to be there early but she opted not to go help after the lack of organization the night before.  Adam and I went to her condo to get ready for the party.  We had some wardrobe issues that delayed us from getting there on time.  I never tried on my dress before heading to Shari's.  Apparently, my fab (yes, that is sarcasm) post-prego bod doesn't exactly fit into the formal I wore on New Year's Eve last year.  So instead of putting Shari's hair up, which was the whole point of going to her house before the party, I spent an hour trying on every formal in Shari's closet.  After trying on a dozen dresses and several attempts to convince Shari I just wouldn't go she forced me to wear a black dress of hers, her underwear (DON'T ASK!!!), her 5 inch Charles David heels, carry her hot pink clutch, and told me to shut my trap, have a glass of wine, and then go get in the car. 

Andrea and her husband Matt and Lori and her husband Arthur had been waiting on us forever.  We finally got to the party at 10:30pm and we were supposed to be there at 8:00pm.  NICE!  They couldn't find Shari's host name tag and she didn't hear them call for the hosts to come up to the stage so that they could introduce them to the guests and thank them for their charitable contribution.  What is it about this party that it is jinxed with issues (see last year's post "Can you bail on a charity event?") ?  You hate to not participate in charity events, but maybe next year we should find a new holiday charity to support...