That's what I like about Texas!

(Okay, the title of the post is what Dairy Queen's little jingle is on it's commercials here in Texas...is it just me or does every state have Dairy Queen? I didn't have to come to Texas to get it...)

I love our street. I don't necessarily think we have the most amazing house in the world, it is great for what we need, we probably could have gotten a better deal or more square footage or something but we could not have gotten better neighbors (with the exception of whoever called the police on my dogs...grrr..). They hang out outside every afternoon and evening and let the kids run and play, just like the Mayberry Days. So my one neighber, the planner of the bunch, organized a progressive dinner for our Christmas party. At each house we would have a course (cocktails, appetizers, soup/salad, main course, dessert, hot drinks). The invitation mentioned, about a million times, that the Bassett's do not drink (so please provide them with something they can drink). I am totally not embarrased that I don't drink but I did feel self conscious that in every e-mail that went out it mentioned it somewhere : ). And at each house there was supposed to be a gift so we could play a little game.

At the first house where we had cocktails they were nice and had Diet Coke/Coke and something else I didn't quite hear when she told me my choices (later I found out it was this apple/cranberry martinellis type thing, yum, thank you thoughtful neighbors!). Anyway it was great and we played the game and luckily I was the one who got to open the last layer of the gift which meant I got to keep it. And are you wondering what my gift was?

A flask and funnel set! I'll be the first to admit, that I didn't really know what that was, but from the laughter and jokes that immediately followed I figured it out pretty quick! Isn't that awesome? A flask and funnel set! It's the perfect gift for the person that has everything. Our best idea was to fill it with juice and give the kids sips of it during sacrament meeting. They all got a kick out of that : ) Luckily though the next gift was actually some sort of alcohol....I can't keep them straight....Rum maybe? The guy who got it was real happy...if only he had a flask to keep it in!

The next gift to open was beer bread mix (in a beer can!). It was just so funny because everyone was waiting for there to be a gift for me to trade with them. Luckily at the next house my nice neighbor Bryan won some candles and traded it for my flask.

I was a little sad though, because, well....I've never had a flask and though I would never use it (the way it was intended at least), it would have made a great gift for the next ward Christmas party, or for Ralphie.

Anyway I love our neighbors and I love that they don't care that we don't drink and still invite us to their parties. They even had Blaine say the blessing on the food; I was afraid for a minute that he would try and say some non-denominational type prayer and wind up repeating that scene from Meet the Parents , but he did a great job!

It was a great party and I love that we had a neighborhood party! We never got to do that in Utah!

P.S. Did I ever tell you how big Blaine's eyes got when my mom gave us a six pack of beer for Christmas? (It was because the beer brand was my maiden name, she has hers proudly displayed in her curio cabinet, next to all of her manger scenes).

Merry Christmas!