The Christmas Party

Last night Mystical Roo and I hit my work Christmas party.  November might seem a little early to be having a Christmas party but it's the only time we can fit it in before things get crazy at the holiday park.  So there's nibbles, drinkies, general merriment and most importantly the theme!  The parties are always themed and everyone is asked to come in costume.  Of course not everyone comes in costume but I love dressing up and jumped at the opportunity to raid the costume box!  Mystical Roo and I both wanted to make use of items we already had and with the theme of the party "Dead Famous" we were both stroking our beards in thought.  In the end, with a star wars robe and a medieval style dress we decided Mystical Roo would go as Jesus and I would go as Anne Boleyn.  Excellent.  And we wouldn't tell any of my colleagues our plans.  It would be a surprise.  Excellent.  So on the day of the party Mystical Roo is wearing his robes and his sandals and already has a beard.  I have on my dress and in the absence of a French hood, I snaffle myself a crown.  I also found some beads and created myself and Anne Boleyn style necklace, complete with a hanging B.  Ammy kindly collected us and we only raised a few eyebrows getting into the car.  I'm always nervous before arriving anywhere in costume.  There's always that niggling doubt in the back of your head.  What if no one else is dressed up?  What if I got it wrong?  We arrived back at the holiday park and were greeted by Audrey Hepburn and Pocahontas so I breathed a sigh of relief.  This is always the best part of a costume party - being relieved that yes it is actually a costume party and then checking out everyone's outfits.  There was all manner of dead famous folk from Freddie Mercury to Ned Kelly, Cleopatra to Marilyn Monroe.  It was great to see everyone looking the part.  My dress received a number of oohs and ahhs as I explained Bear Z had made it for me more than ten years previously.  Then the attention was steered to Mystical Roo and everyone guessed correctly that he was Jesus.  Then the attention returned to me and I could see the confusion in various pairs of eyes.  I had expected this.  My costume did not scream Anne Boleyn and it wasn't the most obvious choice.  I knew I would have to tell pretty much everyone who I was.  What I didn't expect was for the majority of people to continue to stare blankly at me.  I'm Anne Boleyn.  Who?  No, this I had not expected.  Anne Boleyn.  Second wife of King Henry the Eight.  Beheaded.  Arguably the most famous of his wives.  This then resulted in an even more confuddling, King Henry the who?  Gah!  I hadn't even considered that my Australian buddies wouldn't know who Anne Boleyn was.  I had just assumed everyone knew.  But then why would they?  It's English history after all.  The worst thing was that they made us all stand up in groups, the men, the women and the kids, and announce to everyone who we were so that the crowd could whoop and cheer.  The character with the most whooping and cheering would win.  So when the microphone came to me I had to sheepishly tell everyone I was Anne Boleyn and wait as there was a confused pause followed by a smattering of clapping.  Mystical Roo, on the other hand, happily announced he was Jesus before blessing the crowd.  I always thought he had a kind of God complex.  I still enjoyed my night though, even if no one knew who I was and I felt very, very English.  Ammy collected us a few hours later and I returned home with a box of chocolates and some Tupperware.