Because Thanksgiving was so late this year, it doesn’t really feel like we have much of a gap between then and Hanukkah and Christmas. Holiday parties are already starting and Thanksgiving was just last week! I’m making sure I don’t try to go to too many parties because I don’t want to overdo it, but I’m also excited to see so many friends in a festive mood.
The first holiday party of the season was the Union Working mixer. It has been a while since there was a Union Working event because so many of the leaders of the group are involved in union politics. So they have been busy with the election and then the convention. But hopefully, soon we will be back to our regular meetings in the new year.
This mixer was much more of a holiday party with a little bit of information thrown in. I didn’t have to run a live-stream because the things discussed were mainly about how we will be back to our meetings in the new year, that we have been able to accomplish a lot this year, and we have a lot to accomplish coming up. There wasn’t much information shared outside of things specific to the group. It only took a few minutes for that to be discussed and the rest of the mixer was a party.
I hadn’t seen some of these friends since the convention so it was nice to get to see everyone. And there were a lot of new people at the mixer that I hadn’t met yet. It’s always good to see fresh faces at union events because that means more people are getting involved and taking some ownership of the union. One of the most important and common things that people say is that the union is us. So if you are upset with the union, you need to take action. You can’t blame a different entity because members make up the union governance. So we hold the power and can make sure that our voices are heard. So whenever I see new people, I feel like they understand that concept and want to make sure the union is the best and strongest it can be. That’s one of my motivations for being so active in the union and it’s really encouraging to see others do the same.
I was bouncing around the party talking to different groups of friends. I probably looked a bit crazy because I wanted to make sure I had a chance to talk to everyone that I wanted to. I was feeling good, in a good mood, and had nothing else to do but be social. I have to take advantage of those moments and I definitely did that during the mixer. And I had every intention of taking lots of pictures in front of the step and repeat, but I kept getting distracted by talking to friends. I only managed to get one photo the entire night.
It was so nice to be at a union event that had minimal discussion about politics. There were some people there who I know are a part of the other slate or don’t agree with my slate or union politics, but that wasn’t brought up at all. There was a little discussion about how there is so much blame going around that isn’t true, but that wasn’t blaming either slate for what was happening. It was more about why this blame is being put on anyone when it’s not something accurate. Nobody talked about the election or the results and there was no discussion about why things would be better or worse if they were different. It was just about people coming together for an awesome holiday party that all happen to be very passionate about our union.
My plan was to not stay at the mixer too late. I knew I had an early morning and I was driving a rental car that I didn’t love driving (my car had a minor mechanical issue and was at the shop for several days). So I didn’t want to drive home too late so I could sleep and I didn’t have to drive the rental when some people might be driving home a bit crazy from parties. I joked to a friend when I said goodbye that I was starting my rounds of goodbyes and hopefully I would be out of there within the hour. I ended up getting into so many different conversations and before I knew it the entire event was over and it was almost 2 hours after I said I was trying to say my goodbyes. But I guess that’s a sign of a really good party and that I was having a fun time. It was worth being out later than I wanted to because of that.
I’m glad the holiday party season kicked off with such a great party. And it was really nice having a union-related event that was just fun and didn’t feel like work. I definitely need more events like that in my life.
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