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This year's holiday party season brings new traditions

The holiday season is now upon us — a time when we gather with those we love to celebrate annual traditions …

… such as refusing to drive within 10 miles of Tysons Corner until 2012.  

Another favorite tradition is the annual holiday party hosted by longtime friends Pete and Amy — an event that for us and many others signifies the official kickoff of the holiday season and sets the holiday tone. Amy is from a long line of Christmas fanatics (said lovingly) and decorates and displays five Christmas trees in various rooms of her home, each with a different theme. (“Wow,” you’re thinking, “That’s a lot of Christmas trees.”) Well, perhaps to most of us it seems that way, but not to her brother, who has ten. So as you may imagine, the party is not wanting for holiday spirit. Or holiday spirits, for that matter. Every year, several specialty cocktails with festive names are featured.

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Another highlight is the pianist they hire so everyone can gather ‘round their piano to sing holiday songs. Every year, my mom and her husband, Jack, drive up from Virginia Beach to be part of the fun. And create it. My mom conceived the idea of people acting out the different days during the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, which was great until she and Jack decided that they would pantomime maids-a-milking. Let’s just say that I am now somewhat lactose intolerant … and that there are not enough elf martinis in the world …

This party is also where the annual tradition of adding events to our hosts’ white board calendar began. Usually toward the end of the evening, it strikes us as particularly helpful to fill in any blank spaces on the calendar for the month of December. The completed calendar then reflects numerous medical appointments (e.g., boil lancings and toddler Botox), and several political events. For liberal Democrats, they have an astounding number of Michele Bachmann and NRA fundraisers. They also have “dinner” plans with Herman Cain (Amy only) and a reminder to “Occupy Dogfish Head. “

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It’s how they know we care.

This year, we also experienced what may become a new tradition: the end-of-night-rant by Jack. He had noticed a party-goer had come to the party with his shirttails hanging out. As a former Marine helicopter pilot, he has little tolerance for this type of sartorial carelessness. Still, Jack is very easygoing and it was amusing how animated he was, going on for several minutes about the lack of respect this displayed. I wondered how in all the years I’ve known him, I had never seen this facet of his personality and was a little puzzled by how personally he seemed to take this shirttail issue.

Which is when it hit me: Jack’s last name, and I kid you not, is “Tucker.”

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