LET IT THAW, LET IT THAW...

Well, I know some of the UK is still suffering, but at least in my part of South London the snow is finally thawing. That's not to say it won't snow again, but for the time being, I don't have to wear Ugg boots just to go down to the compost bin. And that's ok, because I don't know where they are at the moment. I lent them to a girl at Son#2's party on Monday night because she only had ballet pumps that got ruined in the snow (*sighs for a 16-year-old to think about sensible shoes*) and I haven't found them since...

And that leads on to The Party Post-Mortem *heh*.

Thanks FList, for seeing me through the drama this week LOL. Son#2's 16th birthday party was rescheduled to Monday night and we girded our loins. But to be honest, it went very well and the damage - physical and emotional - was minimal.

We had about 60 guests, all dressed up beautifully, lovely to see. Lots of squee and shrieks and singing too loudly and jumping up-n-down dancing. Best thing we ever did was to hire the mess tent for our garden. It opened straight from our patio door/window, ran the length of the garden, and gave us the same floor space again as the rest of the house. Hubby made a makeshift wooden floor for it so they weren't all dancing on the grass, and it worked a treat. They fell on the food as if they hadn't been fed for a week (probably hadn't, the size of some of those slinky dresses) and pizzas delivered at 9.30 were a particular hit!

Of course we had the drama...
One falling down the stairs (it was her heels), one being sick (made it to the bathroom, thank god), one broke with her boyfriend, two had full vodka bottles confiscated at the door on entry. I was on bar duty, rationing the drinks quite closely, and we actually shut down to anything but water for an hour during the evening. Son#1's girlfriend was a great support to me - with 2 other friends, thanks to them - and she showed especial Glee in going around the upstairs rooms on Snog-Watch duty. Considering these girls are only 3 years older than the party guests, they seemed to be slipping into the 'older generation' already LOL.

At midnight, after the music had been off for an hour and several parent/chauffeurs had come and gone, we still had a dozen or so milling around and needing to camp over. Yes, I know I could have put them in the tent, but can you see the news headlines the next day when they were found frozen to the azaleas?! So Son#1 stepped into the breach finding bedding, setting out campbeds on the living room floor, forcing them all to drink plenty of water (from his personal experience of a good night out *heh*) and then yelling at them to shut up and go to b****y sleep when the small hours of the morning rolled around. I mean, we all know a sleepover means stay-up-and-yatter-all-night-over.

Or that's how I was told it went, because at that point I turned tail and ran, went to sleep at my sister's house while she's away for Xmas. I had to go into work the next day, plus I get VERY tense if I can't get my sleep when I need to. Oh, any my bed was covered with boxes of stuff we'd cleared away from the other rooms in the house in anticipation of The Invasion. So what's a gal to do?

But seriously, it was a success all round and - as always in our house - An Experience. Not necessarily one we'll repeat too soon, but there you are. Trouble now is that Hubby and I are still exhausted, shadows of our former selves, I'm behind with the routine washing and shopping, and all our downstairs possessions are still in boxes. Including my laptop *arrggh*, so I'm limited on my online life until things get straight again.

And you know what? I've been too damned tired to care LOL.

So now we just have to get ready for Son#1's 21st *next* week. At least that's in a pub and fully catered, and he's sorting out (ok, so his girlfriend is *heh*) his music and decorations. We just provide the money (isn't that the norm) and the embarrassing - but still very necessary - older-adult presence.

Ho hum, and a Happy Yule to all ♥