Christmas Countdown

I've been a bad blog host, but a great holiday one. Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been busy hosting the girls' friends, then we had a dinner party scheduled for the next evening. Now more holiday parties and then more hosting and then Christmas.

Wow! Such an onslaught of socializing is soooo unusual for us. Ususally we lead very quiet Isloo lives. A coffee morning here, a charity Bingo or Scrabble game there, lunch with friends (Thanks for saving us from boredom, Crayon.) Our evenings are spent quietly at home, fighting over the computer, TV and Playstation or playing Scrabble with family. For excitment we pile into the Replacment Car and zoom up to the local plaza for ice cream. For real thrills, we drive all the way into the Blue Area (Isloo's downtown) for Momma's Ice Cream (not to be confused with daMomma)at a chemist's shop, D.Watson. We buy a scoop each and eat it in the car. Such thrills, indeed. As Owl said the other day, "We usually don't have anything to do, now we're overloaded!"

But, I'm not complaining. (I'm bragging, actually) It's been a great whirlwind week. It was so wonderful to see the girls from Chicago and hear familiar laughter ringing through the house and remember the good old days in Chicago when our house was the fun place to be and there was nearly always a gaggle of crazy girls laughing, joking and eating like horses. I had scheduled a Christmas dinner on Wednesday, not knowing how long they would be staying. They left on Tuseday, so they sadly missed a great party.

We pulled together both adult and young-adult women from all over the globe. There were:

2 British Foreign Wives (Hi Crayon)
2 Kazakhs Dips (diplomats),
2 newly posted and very wacky American Dips, (Owl said, "How do crazy people like that go into the Foreign Service. Don't you have to be diplomatic and reserved? Thery're crazier than Abez!")
2 Dip-offspring college girls of German/Indonesian mix,
1 very excited and funny Japanese Professor at her first Christmas party,
1 Indonesian wife of previously metioned German Dip and mother of previously mentioned college-aged daughters,
1 very quiet and very sweet Singaporean with her very funny and very sweet 3 year old daughter,
1 Pakistani Journalist/Media Producer (Maria U.: if your reading this, that box of Godiva chocolates you brought has given you permanent access to our home and our hearts.)
1 Insane (with a Capital "I") Pak-American Medical Student who gave a demonstration on "How to karate chop your way into a gingerbread house."
1 very charming and always trying to help out in the kitchen Pakistani college girl with great English despite having only visited abroad, not living abroad.

Now, sing all this through to the tune of "The 12 days of Christmas", with lots of laughter and great food, and you'll have recreated the essence of the party.

Everyone mixed and mingled nicely. The food turned out well, inspite of a last minute glitch. Our oven refused to light, and the chicken and the salmon casserole were still raw 30 minutes before party time! We invaded our new upstairs tennet's privacy and put the casserole in their oven, and we cooked the chicken on the stove top. Owl had seasoned the chicken in a honey-mustard sauce of her own creation and except for it sticking to the frying pan and pulling off some of the meat, it turned out fine and tasted wonderful. (hugs and kisses to Owl)

Abez wowed the guests with her amazing assortment of decorated cookies. Not just the usual gingerbread men, though they were in attendance by the dozens, but also beautifully decorated sugar cookies. It pays to have in indentured cookie slave in the house. (Abez claims that is her role in the household. "Abez, I need 50 more gingerbread men in 2 hours!")

My only regret is that the party ended so early. Dips and medical students in test week had strictly enforced curfews, the ladies of luxury needed to get home before their drivers' work hours ended and young mothers returned home to hubby and kids. I had drunk so much Diet Pepsi that I couldn't sleep even though I didn't go to bed until 2am. It seems that our dog Wafadar has a new friend who stood in the vacant plot next door and barked his invitation to come out and play. She promptly barked back that she was unable to join him. I couldn't sleep but didn't want to yell out, "Bad dog, no barking." waking up my husband every 5 minutes. He persisited till I sent Abez out at 3am armed with a glass of water to discourage him. (And I got him, too, haha! -Abez)

Now I have to plan and shop for Christmas dinner, and get ready for Hemi and little sister, Demi Hemi coming up from Lahore. I forsee much Scrabble playing, much cookie eating, much laughter and gup shup (chit chat) ahead.