Christmas Parties

Let me cut straight to it.  Tony de Movellan throws one helluva Christmas party.  It may be the only Christmas related thing I look forward to each year.  Technically, it's Ella's office Christmas party, but this thing is so far from any stereotypical office Christmas party that you wouldn't believe it.  Some people at this thing I only see once a year, but they're all Realtors so they all remember me!  Tony and his wife Barbara always pick a wonderful meal (roast pork this year) and buy a few cases of good Spanish wine.  Tony actually apologized to me this year because he forgot to specify the vintage and they gave him "this awful '05 stuff."  Yeah Tony - people were complaining all night about the junky Spanish wine you were serving.  He then proceeded to break out a bottle of the '04 for me to sample, which was significantly better, but lets keep in mind that the 5% of invitees in the "oenophile" category were happy regardless.  

Bob and Debbie Wolf throw a good party two, but this is another type of party altogether.  It's a pot-luck BYOB in Bob's basement.  The fun comes from the diverse crowd the Wolf's attract, the duelling Margaritaville blenders, and Bob's gazillion dollar home theatre and custom bar setup.  An added bonus is that Bob lets me play bartender at his bar.  For the longest time Bob was told he couldn't host any parties until he finished Debbie's kitchen upgrades, but she's a softie so she never enforced it.  Somehow, in between working on his houseboat and keeping his custom home theatre business afloat in tough times, Bob actually managed to get the kitchen work done this year too!