In with the in-laws?

Last Christmas hubby and I played host to the in-laws for Christmas day,well strictly speaking I played host whilst he played dumb to any knowledge of how modern kitchen appliances function. To some this might seem like a nightmare task, especially when you add to the invite list all the other parentage that make our two families complete (something I will have to explain in more detail in a seperate blog), however in fact it was a fantastic day. I am one of the fortunate few that love my mother-in-law and have a great relationship with hubby's side of the familiy as he has with mine. However although we are all one big family now there was still the awkward stage of first introductions and it is an event not long into this process that I am going to recall now.
So not long into the familial bonding process my hubby's stepdad had a birthday party in a nightclub in the town centre. Keen to make a good impression I turned hubby's advice into my mantra, "she doesn't like boring people, be chatty". And so I was determined to be on top, sparkling form, wit and converstaional prowess in abundance. We arrived at the venue and I went into overdrive trying to keep a steady flow of chatter going, think Bridget Jones when she learns the art of networking, Introduce people with thoughtful details. Such as: "Sheila, this is Daniel. Daniel, this is Sheila. Sheila enjoys horse-riding and comes from New Zealand. Daniel enjoys publishing and comes..."
Bridget: "...all over your face? "
I decided to take hubby's younger sister under my wing and ensure she had a good evening by... well pretty much by conspiring to get thoroughly drunk together. So as the evening progressed we did one of many trips to the bar to get in a round. Whilst there I carried on my sparkling converstation with a fireman, proud of my ability to socialise and entice strangers into witty banter. We had a rather intelectual sparring, discussing topical issues such as the current strike actions by the fire service. Feeling rather proud of our success we returned to our table, only to be greeted by barely suumised snickering. It was my mother-in-law who pointed out that the fireman in question was, indeed you've probably guessed by now, a stripper. It hadn't occured to me to wonder why a fireman who pop into a bar for a drink in full uniform, nor why he would be there when the fireman were on strikc-oh dear.
Much hilarity followed and the in-laws thought it was brilliant, still reminding me of the incident to this day. Quite why I thought chatting up a stripper dressed as a fireman was the route to impressing my mother-in-law is beyond me but the good news is she certainly doesn't think I'm too quiet! So my advice to anyone out to get in with the in-laws? Be yourself. And it you're wondering if I am therefore confessing that myself is someone daft enought to chat up a stripper in full belief that he was a on duty fireman... I refer you to the picture on the apron hubby recently bought me. "Oh god, I'm so bloody blonde sometimes!"