Let the Christmas Parties Begin

We kicked off the holiday season with our first Christmas party tonight. The Beal Bank bash was held at Southfork Ranch, and it included a three-course dinner, casino party games, Nintendo Wii/Rock Band games on the big screens, and a prize raffle.

After dinner, we traded our fake money for casino chips and hit the blackjack table. The objective was to earn as many chips as possible because at the end of the night all chips would be exchanged for raffle tickets.

I am not lucky, and I am not a gambler — even with fake money — so I played one chip at a time. Gary mockingly called it the Bob Dole method — conservative and safe. He’s more bold, willing to risk it all from time-to-time. After all, it was “fake” money. We ended up with the same amount of raffle tickets at the end of the night, so I guess both methods work.

With raffle tickets in hand, we perused the three prize tables to see which goodies we wanted to win. Gifts ranged from a $300 gift certificate for Bob’s Steak & Chop house to gift baskets, movie tickets, and Amex gift cheques. Behind each prize was a small gift bag. If you wanted to win a particular prize, you placed your raffle ticket into the corresponding bag. I placed my tickets in all of the Amex bags. I thought my odds of winning might be good because there were so many prizes on the tables. Nevertheless, my unlucky streak continues…I didn’t win a thing. Oh well, at least the games were fun.

While we were waiting for the prize winners to be announced, we wandered over to the game area on the other side of the ballroom. They had a Nintendo Wii system and the “Rock Band” game. Gary picked up the guitar while others jumped on the microphone and drums. The Beal Bank Band was formed. Okay, not really, but they did have fun playing in the fake band.

The night ended with the anticlimatic prize drawing…it would’ve been more fun if we’d won something, but I’m sure those who did win were excited. 😉

So that’s one party down…the next one is Monday night.