Alternativ jul

It was the same procedure as last year - husband of feitpingvin and I spent julaften (Christmas Eve) and 2.juledag (Boxing Day) at Alternativ jul doing the dishes. Husband of feitpingvin sent stuff through the industrial dishwashing machine while I did a lot of manual washing, mostly of pots and pans, and cleaned up the dishwashing area every chance I could. At one point during julaften, husband of feitpingvin disassembled the dishwashing machine and he scrubbed down the whole thing while I hand-washed all the parts. We spent all of last year doing dishes, and our experience came in handy, as we were able to systematize the procedures, ensuring that everything ran smoothly. It seems like our efforts were really appreciated; lots of people commented on how good and efficient we were at doing our work...

There were a lot of guests on julaften. The doors opened at 4 pm; when we took our dinner break around 7 pm, it was difficult to find a place to sit and eat. When some of the volunteers dressed up as Santas to give out presents at around 9 or 10 pm (don't remember when they did this), I went out to take a peek at the action, and the main dining area was completely full. It was not that full last year or the year before. Good thing there was lots of presents. And food! Sheesh... it seems like every year we get more food than the year before (and we've been doing this for eight years). Among other things, we got more marzipan pigs from Nidar and individual-sized cartons of orange and apple juice than anyone knows what to do with. The volunteers were allowed to take as much as they wanted to home with them (and there's still lots left over!). We also got to take some leftover smoked salmon and free-range eggs and cream (hah! we have the ingredients to make ice cream now!). Yummy :-) Oh, and I also managed to snag a plush Pingu (leftover from last year's gifts) hehe. Just what we need here. More penguins... ;-)

On a sad note, Alternativ jul did have a nasty incident. Gypsies showed up, and while many of the guests were sleeping/resting, the gypsies went around and stole from them. WHAT. THE. FUCK. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with them?! The "regular" guests are people who don't have much to begin with. The gypsies, on the other hand, are tourists from the EU (Romania - they can come here on a 3-month tourist visa). So while we've more or less always had an open-door policy in the past, we were instructed to not let them in. It really, really sucks that they have to ruin things like that. Seriously, is it really possible to stoop so low?! Aaarrrrgh...

The guests were otherwise well-behaved, polite, and very appreciative of our efforts and all the presents and all the food. As always.

Anyway... it's all over for us this year. We're tired and happy, and will most likely do this again next year. Now... what on earth are we going to do with 2 kg. of marzipan?!