Dirty Santa

Today I received an invitation from an old friend in Auburn. She is having a Christmas party on December 16th, and all of my friends from my MA program will be there. I am really excited about this, and I really hope I can make it. I miss everyone from the English department, and it's really interesting to see what everyone is doing now: two of my friends are in the PhD program in English at Auburn; one is teaching 7 composition classes; one transferred to Montgomery; a couple are working in non-English jobs; and two of us switched over into Linguistics. It will be really fun to catch up with everyone...

The invitation said that we will play "dirty Santa." Do you know about this game? Basically, everyone brings a gift and puts it in a pile in the middle of the group. Everyone draws a number, and when it is your turn, you can choose a new gift or steal someone else's gift (hence the name "dirty"). This is a pretty common Christmas game in America, so I bet you will play it sometime soon!

etc...

To follow up on the last post, I chose Walker Percy's _The Moviegoer_ for my fun reading. I have been a bit disappointed, though, because every time I try to sit down and read, all I can think is "I really shouldn't be reading. I don't have time for this. Put it down. No! You should be able to read for fun. Keep reading." Anyway, you can see how this gets in the way of my enjoyment.

I thought I would post a few pictures from the Halloween party. It was so much fun. Everyone had a great costume, and I enjoyed being Olive. Maybe we can do it again next year!