Posted by:
forestpal
(
)
Date: December 22, 2011 09:49PM
Yes, the (non-Mormon) parties have been fun this year. Non-Mormons hug each other, and I've never been hugged so much in my life!
I like the fact that I can wear whatever I want! Tomorrow's party is in Park City, in a hilly area, where the parking is not good. So--I can wear warm pants!! Warm boots!! I can even wear my Christmas sweater, without having anyone laugh at me or judge me. Yes, I wore the same sweater last year, but who cares. I used to hang out with a very snobby, superficial group of Mormons who would fly to San Francisco or New York to buy their clothes. These are wealthy women who live off their husbands. Their parties are very beautiful looking--professional decorating and catering--but the conversation is mostly just gossip about people I don't know anymore, or travelogs about places I haven't been in years, or comparing fancy restaurants and stores where I'll never go. They don't talk about their children...makes me wonder....
Maybe it's better not to talk. At a fun party last week, we started singing around the piano, and we got carried away, and sang probably every Christmas song ever written. The children and old folks joined in, too. At another party We danced. One party was a moonlight cross-country ski and a bonfire w/ smores and hotdogs. This is stuff that a Mormon Relief Society would never plan.
Instead of the cold,"cultural hall" with its harsh lights casting shadows, and the echo of metal chairs, normal parties take place in an actual home! Yes, someone actually invites you to their house! It is not a copied flyer or an announcement, but an invitation with your own name written on it, or a personal phone call just for YOU. Someone opens the front door for you, and walk in without taking off your shoes, and you are invited to sit down on a real living room couch--and no one is a HT or VT! The homes are warm, with soft lights, a Christmas tree, sometimes candlelight, and smells of cooking. People smile and laugh! That's the spirit of Christmas!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2011 09:53PM by forestpal.