Best Kicking Off of the Holiday Party Season

All right, now here's a big crowded holiday activity I look forward to every year: Carol's annual Christmas Party.  This year's party was 1962.

Look at this tree!

Look at this spread!

Very vintage food, right?  Carol's blog has a detailed rundown on everything there was to eat.  Also, did you know Carol has a blog now?

Micah and Nat, put to work juicin.

I didn't know there were deviled eggs until it was almost too late.



Ahem.  No thank you!  I don't even fake smoke.

And now, revelers!

I was there.  And so was Carol.



Suvi.

My old neighbors Sharon

and Rob.

Sam, MVP.

Laura and Karrie

Chateau.

Alpha.

JB and Whitney.

Aja.

Tommy.

Meredith (dancing, not yelling).

Derek and brother Kyle.

Austin and Di, seated in the blue eye section.

Chaunte and her neighbor . . . Andrew?  Could that be right?  Sorry!

Jendar.

Ty and Kristin.

We partied through Christmas hits, 60s hits, and 2000s hits.  Skirts got twirly.

Eric!

Conga line broke out for my Harry Belafonte jam.

Jen, Abby, Andrea.

Broek, telling fools whatsup.

This seems to be my only photo with Jeff in it?  Please believe me he was very much there.

The Beale Sisters.

Hyeku.

Rachel!  Did you know she lives in Massachusetts now?

Everyone!  Hands up!

Polaroids were taken.  We were inventing a good dance for sleigh ride.

Kelley and Caitlin popped in towards the end.

I don't know what song we are inventing a dance for here.

Terrible milkshake afterparty. (Good afterparty, terrible milkshakes)

Deep conversation with a few funny parts.

Best effort with camera timer.

Too soon?

Supplemental Reading: Carol's 1940's Party from 2010, and I can't find my post for her 20's party in 2009.  Is it possible I didn't blog it?

Oh, and now Carol's new blog has a post about the party.  Go read it!  There's some good pictures and words to be found there.

Best Birthday Battle

Last night we celebrated Dave's birthday the best way there is to celebrate a birthday: With a Bo Ssam at the Ssam Bar.  It was my fifth toe-to-toe battle with one of these ten pound beauties . . . our army was small, but it was expert.

Prior to the pork butt we shared some pork buns, pickles, and apple kimchi salad.

The birthday boy and I shared a special BBQ pork bun.

Logan and Jenn.

Me, Dave.

Bo Ssam, being worked on.  The trick is there's always so much pork hiding under the bone.

And, finally, here's Ellie preparing Justin for pork eating.  Do you notice anything in this picture?  On fingers?  On RING fingers?

It's hard to take lots of pictures when your hands are covered with kimchi, meat, and oyster juices.  But happy birthday, Dave.  Thanks for letting us honor you by eating so well.

I'll admit that right now, at 8:11 am on Friday morning, I have a savage pork hangover.  Does anyone know where I can get an apple or carrot?  Or some sort of juice with fruit in it?

Best and Now I've Seen This, Too

Having made it to the balloon inflating and a bit of the Macy's Parade, it seems I'm checking out all the big crowd holiday activities.  Last night's BCHA?  The lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

Not this one.

That green one, there.  In the distance.  Arrived "early" with Kelley and Kaitlan, thought we got ourselves a decent spot.

Set in to wait for the show, watched Beyonce videos on phones.

Got a call from late-arriving Alpha, she told us she (and a couple famous Utahns I'd seen before on the internet) had cut through a Rockefeller Center lobby and found a better spot than ours.

A much better spot.  So we copied her sneaking, it was so easy.

We enjoyed performances by Michael Buble,

Tony Bennet

and many more (Neil Diamond, Singing-show winners, Cee-lo, etc.)

Some of our crowd friends.  See that kid on the shoulders in a tie back there?  Rad little dude.

It was a lot of work trying to keep Kait happy.

The biggest name among the night's big names? The Biebs.  Obvs.

These girls had Zapruder-level theories on whether or not Justin was actually at Rockefeller Center that night (you see, the performers were all down in the skating area, so we couldn't actually see them, but we cold feel their nearness as we watched the NBC broadcast on monitors.  But I did see Al Roker and Donald Trump, I can testify that they were definitely really there that night.)

And then, finally, a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown, the lighting, and we were out of there.

Look at all those touch screens.



So many cameras.  So many cameraphones.

Post-show: A little fruitless 5th Avenue walking, cries of hunger, a bee line to the Burger Joint.  

It'd been a few months.  Burger Joint burger, I missed you.

And now I've laid eyes on the Burger Joint grilled cheese, it doesn't look so bad.

Parker Meridian also hosts a nice annual collection of gingerbread houses.

Some Occupy North Pole protesters.  Go back to work, lazy elves!  Make me presents!

Conclusion: this BCHA wasn't so bad.  It wasn't super crowded in our pen but I don't think I'd run back and do it again.