My first Party Gig

I played an office Christmas party at my in-laws'. It went OK, but nothing to write home about. Probably 40 people in the house, only 6 or 8 came over to listen to me -- the rest were partying, of all the nerve. But the folks that listened in seemed to enjoy it -- they didn't hasten to join the others, at any rate. It was unnerving, to try to play while most folks were talking and laughing, loudly -- as always, I'm afraid to interfere. I probably played for an hour and a half, though. Did most of my adult-ish (bars Frosty and Rudolph)Christmas songs, and some James, of course. A lady asked for "Shenandoah", but gladly accepted "Water is Wide" in its place -- that was nice. All in all, I'd rather play Tully's, though. It was better than a "cold" night at Tully's, but worse than most nights there. The upside was that folks felt comfortable just talking to me, or asking for stuff. The downside was that I just seemed out of place. Good place to do the "party test", though, I guess. Running though them, though, I realized that "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was way too high, so I transposed it to A (from C). Plays OK there, and sings much better. Too maudlin to actually perform, though, so I never got to it. I thought I'd hold it off to later, but suddenly it was time for the gift exchange, and I was done. I also took a look at "Blue Christmas", just as a joke, but it's actually kinda cool. I'm gonna play with it some more, and see if I can do anything with it that doesn't ridicule Elvis (or me). And I transposed "Please Come Home for Christmas" down to D (from A). Seems like a long way, but it's *still* kinda high for my voice -- those darn Eagles! Reminds me of "Hotel California" -- waaay too high. Anyway, it works OK in D, mostly playable -- but I gotta get my G#dim (4x343x) worked up better, it happens too often in this Christmas music.