Fri I took off work and baked all day long. Literally, I started at 9:30 and took the last stuff out of the oven at 4:30. But making everything the day before was definitely the right thing to do.
Sat Spouse & I cleaned the house from top to bottom, all 3,770 square feet. Then I finished distributing the candles and other decorations around the living room, powder room, foyer, dining room, kitchen, family room, and bathroom on the main level where most guests would be.
I was lamenting what to do about the stack of Christmas cards we'd received. I'd tossed them into a large glass bowl after Spouse & I read each one, but didn't think that looked very nice. Then it hit me. I grabbed some wide plaid Christmas ribbon ribbon, cut it into 4 equal lengths, and stapled the cards to the ribbon. Then I used push pins to hang the ribbons on the wall in the foyer. They looked like this:
The cards were pretty to begin with, but by hanging them on the pretty ribbon they became lovely decorations too! Although I didn't invent this idea, I did pat myself on the back for thinking of it.
After putting the gold table cloths on the dining room and breakfast room tables, I got out all the platters, cake pedestals, cookie trees, punch bowl, coffee pots, and various serving pieces I thought we might need. Basically everything was set up except the food.
Spouse & I both showered, then went to a lovely birthday party for our friend Bill, hosted by his partner Dean at their house nearby. We had a good time, and it was nice to stop thinking/worrying/obsessing about the details of our party for a while and just enjoy talking and being with folks.
When we returned home we sliced all the desserts and placed them on the various serving pieces, started the coffee pots, made the punch, poured the eggnog in the pitcher, lowered the lights with the new dimmers, and started lighting all the candles as the 1st 2 guests arrived. All our hard work paid off; everything was ready and the house looked great. We had a total of 40 friends and neighbors attend. Unfortunately 6 more had to cancel due to being sick.
We had a great time! I heard friends recommending certain items they liked to others trying to decide was to eat. Spouse & I mingled among our friends and tried to have short conversations with everyone, although we were rarely together. We feel its best to split up so one can keep an eye on the food/drinks and refill when needed while the other greets people near the door and visits with those not near the food. It works well for us.
Several friends brought us ornaments, wine, and goodies to eat later, which was so kind!
After the last guests left, Spouse & I sat in the living room with our coffee and gazed at the fireplace and Christmas tree for a few minutes before 'comparing notes'. I told him about the conversations I'd had and he told me about his as we recapped the party. Then we put away the left over food and went to bed.
What a wonderful way to enjoy and spread holiday cheer!
Crush du Jour: Jeremy Santucci
10 comments:
Glad you had such a great time! We've been snowed in all weekend. Hugs during this great week. Merry Merry!
Sounds like a lovely time. Happy Holidays!
XOXO
What a fantastic idea with the cards! It looks lovely. Most of being fabulous is REMEMBERING what to do in a given situation. The rest is invention.
Lerve!
Sounds like a fantabulous time! I knew it would be! :)
Sounds like you had a nice time.
It always works out better when everything or most everything is prepared before time.
Speaking of preparation, we stayed at our friends Nick and Beth's house over the weekend. So the prep to drive down south got pushed back to today which means we leave tomorrow morning. Today has been a massive run-around for me and I think it's not over yet.
That's the curse, I think I deliberately didn't have a car because once you have one life gets much more complex.
Plus I'm something of an extreme environmentalist (not a tree hugger though) and I know walking a lot is good for me.
But there are times having a car full time would be nice. I need to setup a zipcar account. That would be the best solution for me.
You went to a lot of effort and as everyone else said it sounds like the party was a great success. Well deserved too.
I love the look of your cards attached to ribbon.
I suspect that the only thing that could have enhanced your experience any more that night would have been a "nightcap" with Jeremy (your crush de jour).
I'm so good that the party was a huge successful! Sounds like a really good time was had. And the ribbon idea is wonderful because you can still read them while thet are being displayed. Nice crush du jour! yummy!
So glad your party was a success! It sounds absolutely lovely. So now are you going to relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday?
Glad to hear that everything went off without a hitch. And glad that you were able to have a good time as well. When I host, I usually am quite frazzled all night long. :-|
And I was happy to hear how the new dimmer switch worked. Sounds like it projected the perfect ambience for a well-received evening with friends.
Merry Christmas!
Congratulations on your party. I'm sure is was quite festive. Now that's a clever and nice way to share your cards.
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