Christmas Party Season

Bill and I always keep busy during December attending various parties that we get invited to.  This year was no exception.  As per usual--some are ones that we have attended in the past and others were new to us this year.

On the first, we attended the Rotary Festival of Trees Gala as we usually do.  On the 8th, we went to the Army-Navy Football Game Party in Beaverton and then headed out to LaCenter to attend the Van Dinter's Christmas Lighting Party.  It was pretty amazing with an eclectic collection of lighting--heavily weighted toward Disney characters. 

On the 9th, we went to our friend, Karen Stanley's, home for a fundraising party for the Legacy Salmon Creek Foundation to raise money for the Child Abuse Assessment Team.  A group of high school students collected items for the silent auction as part of their senior volunteer project and we heard a presentation by the physician that runs the program.  As part of the evening, Karen invited a professional dancing couple to do Argentine tango demonstrations.  Karen has a ballroom at her home instead of a living room.  It is a beautiful room with parquet floors, mirrored ball, state of the art sound system, balconies overlooking the ballroom, etc.  She loves to dance and host dances at her home.

On the 14th, Bill and I went to represent The Children's Center at the Portland Air National Guard Base.  The Combat Operations Group hosted their 2nd Annual Chili Cook-off and Toy Drive.  They collected money and toys to give to The Children's Center.  It was kind of fun to go.  There were about 15 kinds of chili to taste with a little bit of rivalry going on and sharing of secrets.  And there were prizes for the best and the hottest chili.  It has been a long time since I have been to that kind of informal military get together but it was a fun lunch time.

On the 15th, we had our annual Columbia Aviation Association Christmas Party.  It was a pleasant evening--mostly spent visiting with our friends, the Oerdings, but others as well.

On the 19th, the Rotary club hosted their Christmas Ships Party at The Quay.  Unfortunately, we were there an hour and still no ships.  I wasn't feeling very well so we decided to leave before they arrived.  We did drive home along the river and did catch a glimpse of them although there was no place to pull over and take pictures.  Plus it was really windy and rainy--so not sure how good they would have turned out anyway.

So that was our holiday season in a nutshell.  Always fun to connect with our friends during the holiday season.