Chanukah Party..to do list..

While the women are busy cooking, making salads and latkes there is plenty for us guys to do to prepare for the coming barrage of parties.
It’s deja vu all over again. It seems every year, you end up sitting next to the same cousins, talking about the same things, which makes the preparation a lot easier.
Here’s my list..of things to do.
1. Getting my finances in order and getting a full report of profit/loss of this past year for my "inquisitive" cousins from Boro Park.

2.Reading up on the latest sports scores, trades and opinions for my cousins from The Five Towns.

3.Start paying more attention during my shiurim so that when my Yeshivishe Lakewood uncles want to know what I’m learning I’ll be able to answer something that sounds somewhat intelligent.

4.Buy a new cellphone so that halfway through the party when everyone around me starts pulling out and comparing their assortment of gadgets I don’t look like a caveman.

I admit, I’m not a big socialite and I’m amazed at how I can be talking to the cousin that I once used to be so close to, and used to sleep over by, wrestle with, and suddenly I feel so awkward with, as if I’m on a first interview for a job.

I do think the party is necessary and important. Even if it means sitting through the annual Grandpa speech while breathlessly awaiting our gelt allotment. Family is our blood. It’s sad when families drift apart. I think it’s important for a child that his life be put into a frame, a context.
So time to put myself through the inevitable embarrassing situations and questions (Me: “oh my, Yossi has grown so much since last years party..” Cousin Leah: “Yossi wasn’t at the party last year”) and to bond with family (and enjoy the latkes, while I'm at it).