Holiday Festive

So, we homeschool. And, we work from home. And, at the risk of opening up the stereotypical argument about "socialization," let me just say we haven't had a whole heck of a lot of opportunities for non-family holiday parties in the last few years. This year is different. We have a slew of parties to attend. One of the invitations requested that we wear "holiday festive" attire. Y'all. I didn't even know what holiday festive attire was, and I certainly didn't own any. But, that was easy enough to remedy with a little Internet searching and a swipe of the plastic. The real struggle is that I'm just not very good at people. (Seriously, the kids are "socialized" just fine, but I'm another story altogether). I can write words all day long and put them together in a way that sounds fairly decent, but when the mode of delivery is my mouth, all bets are off. Just knowing this about myself makes me uptight and awkward, and I tend to withdraw. The life of the party I'm not. But, I am determined to improve myself in the interpersonal department. It's one of my New Year's resolutions that I'm trying get a jump on. And this is one of those that only comes through practice, so there's nothing to do but just do it. The first party of the season was tonight. I was not amazing by any stretch of the imagination. But, I did have my "holiday festive" on, and Jeff said I didn't embarrass him, so we'll call that a baby step in the right direction. I will continue to practice, and we'll see how it goes. I'm open to suggestions, so feel free to share your tips and tricks for being party perfect.