Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

ATI Xmas Party
We've been building this up for the girls all week, saying that Santa was rumoured to be present at this party.

Erika went to the trouble of having herself well and truly made-up at a local spa, getting her hair and makeup done, ostensibly to impress any of my co-workers we might run across, but more out of fun I think. As a result we ended up arriving later than I had hoped at the Xmas party, but everything worked out in the end. Erika was dressed to the nines, and Vanessa was happy to wear one of her best "party” dresses.

This "party" and dinner is huge. The company currently has about 1,000 people in its Canadian offices, and about 1,600 were at this event, held in one of the larger halls downstairs in the Toronto Convention Centre. I'm so new to the firm that I didn't really expect to meet people I knew (and most of the immediate people I work with opted not to go), so going to this bash seemed like a good idea to meet a few more people in the firm, and let the girls have some fun. (I remember looking forward to the Xmas party my Father's firm threw year after year at the Constellation Hotel near the airport, and I am hoping that this event may lead to a similar tradition). Unfortunately, we got stuck with two other older couples at a table, who were largely cold fish, but thankfully the table next to us as a bunch of little girls around Vanessa's age. Annie, Vanessa and the other little girls all got an Xmas stocking filled with last year's Pokemon pez-like toys, a colouring book plus a few other scattered knick-knacks, and soon all the girls were playing together, and generally getting underfoot of the wait staff.

For the kid's benefit they had a DJ who played several kid-friendly danceable tunes for the kids, and soon Vanessa and all of her new-found friends were up on the dance floor. Wherever she is Vanessa always seems to stand out, and she was singled out to get up on stage along with a little boy to help get the audience dancing.

I ended up taking endless photos with my digital camera, though the camera's video mode best captured the kid dances: Vanessa occasionally doing some ballet moves while Annie twirled like a top until she got dizzy and fell down.

The kids made out like bandits, coming away with a haul of Xmas goodies and presents that required Erika and I to haul it all back to the truck. Perhaps we built up Santa's presence too much, because in the end Vanessa was too scared to go see him in person, though Annie braved it and gave the convincing-looking Santa a big hug just before we left.