A busy few days

The rush to Christmas is upon us.
An interesting fact I heard. the X in Xmas is from the greek for 'Christ' - so that's an interesting one for all you pooh-pooers of Xmas...
Anyway, Thursday was our staff Christmas do, it was brilliant! I went over to Kate's house to get ready, only to realise that I'd forgotten my dress! I'd packed a bag and I'd remembered to pack everything, even my Bridgit-Jones-suck-everything-in pants, but I forgot my dress!!! What a Gemmarism... So we rushed over picked up the dress and rushed back. Me, Kate and Emma all got ready, (with Mary's help who had to go home to finish an assignment) then Mary's boyfriend arrived to pick Mary up and he helped spray our hair with glitter - he used to spray paint walls so he was quite a pro! Then Alex (Alessandro Ferretti, northern Italian, and one of our consultants) joined us and drove us to the Burlington Hotel. In the car he had an album on by a guy called Paolo Nutini, which is probably very popular but it was new to me. Anyway the guy is a lovely singer and I recommend a listen.
We got to the Burlington hotel in town a bit late because we had a nightmare finding parking. Donna was in front of me in the queue and bought two double vodkas and lemonade - she turned to me with a shocked face and said "they cost me £17.50!" - so I bought one drink and decided that that was it for me! Fortunately there was plenty of free wine on the table to accompany the meal and I got up to dance as soon as the music started and forgot all about my glass. I had a great time. It was the BEST works do ever! There was such a good atmosphere, and BioCare totally owned the dance floor. You should have seen the boys, too, usually they are in jeans in despatch, but that night they were so dapper, my god!
I got home at 2am, which made the friday at work quite an endurance test cause it's been ages since I went out on a school night! I'll add pictures asap.
Then friday night me and Alex went to a party in Moseley. Stuart is one of Alex's football team mates, and he and his wife are heading off to Canada for 6 months in the new year. So he thre a bit of a do before heading off, and the theme was "When you were 16". Alex couldn't find anything to wear (and he had long hair then - he went through a bit of a grunge phase) but I cobbled together something approaching my Colosseum outfit. I had my hair in bunches, and got into indie kid mode, it was great! Loads of people made an effort. Loads of people were in Goth mode, Stu looked like he'd been in the Happy Mondays. A few were all grungy. Some people were obviously 16 in the mid 1980's. Rich was the biggest surprise, only 4 years older than me and Alex he was dressed as a fop, in a black suit akin to Mr Darcy out of Pride and Prejudice. His admission: "You have no idea how precocious I was back then" - he is one of the most sensible people I know!!! I got to bed late again that night...
Saturday was another lovely, sunny, crisp winter day. in the evening my parents came over at 6pm for a cup of tea before the three of us went to the church for a Christmas Concert. The choir was the Bournville Young Singers, and now I've got to write a press release on it. But basically it was a good evening. There was a really cute Training choir, made up of 4 years plus. Then the junior sang a few carols, then the senior girls. The senior boys were a big surprise. When I sang in choirs there was always a lack of boys willing to train and give up their time when they could have been playing football or watching telly. This choir is made up of volunteers who practice at a house in their spare time so it was quite an achivement to even have a male voice choir of teenagers. Not only that but they sang wonderfully. Finally the highlight was Vivaldi's Gloria. The soloists tackled the piece really well, even though they looked dead nervous, bless them. Overall it was a lovely night, and we all got to sing a few carols which is always good. I really need to sing a few more though. We sang Oh little town of Bethlehem, Ding dong merrily on high and a few more but there are still so many more to sing!!!