I went to a holiday party last night --a multi family gathering (including my family) that is an annual thing. It turned out to be a stressful event. In the days before it  my siblings did the "are you going? if your not going, I'm not going" thing. Then the organizer who is like a second mother to me called a bunch of times to make sure I was coming. I ate a couple of hours before hand to make sure I was well fueled but when we got there all the food smells made me really hungry. Unfortunately nearly every thing was full of stuff that I'm allergic to. It was loud and crowded and I struggled with being elbow to elbow with all the talk and food. After a couple of hours I felt really distressed so my hubby and I decided to bail. Some of the folks there made a big deal about it but we just smiled and headed for the door. It was such a relief to walk out the door. We saved the night by watching a funny movie.