Gather & Be Festive

Party.

We love a party. More specifically, we love to host a party. Each Christmas for the last few year’s we’ve hosted what used to be called the Hewitt Christmas party. It’s an annual gathering of some of our favorite people, and we genuinely look forward to it each year. [read about 2007’s party year’s here, if you’re that nosy http://babiessquared.blogspot.com/2007/12/once-upon-time.html. . I apparently did not write about last year’s party, nor did I post pictures. Oops.]

I think part of the reason I like to host a party is the thrill of getting the house ready in a short amount of time. Seriously. I stress out about all of it-cleaning the house, how much beer and wine to get, what to serve, I could go on and on. But strangely enough, I like the stress. It feels good to spend a few hours preparing the house for friends, and it feels even better when everyone is together and having a good time later. This year was no exception. I do like to plan ahead, so a few weeks out I make a spreadsheet, which in turn is transferred to smaller index cards. There’s a card for each day leading up to the party, and each day, I complete the tasks listed on that card. You had no idea I was this anal, did you? This year I tried a no-index card format, I only used sheets of paper, and let’s just saying I won’t be making that mistake again. Rookie. Why I switched from a good system, I don’t know. Because of said new system I just didn’t feel as prepared as I should, and therefore was a little frantic before the party began. I think the day of party prep is why my hair was so frizzy that night. Maybe?

Anyway, we pulled it all together in time to take our annual selfie in front of the tree. I have to tell you that I felt a little shocked when I saw this year’s picture. Where the hell did those crows feet come from? I may have to switch to old lady moisturizer.

Now we’re ready to party. We put 7:30 on the invite, and for as long as we can remember, at least 1 stickler for timeliness has always arrived at that time. And now it’s….

Oh. Hell. Where all the people at?

Did I put the wrong date on the invite? Wrong time? Is no one coming? Should probably make a drink. And then check the Evite to make sure I had the date right.

Half a drink later Amber & Kevin show up! Phew. We didn’t put the wrong date on the invite, and their fears of showing up on the wrong day were unfounded. We’ve all been there-you’re the first to a party, and you’re not expecting to be the first, so you wonder if you’ve showing up at the right place and at the right time 'cause the driveway is still empty. Right?

These two opened the floodgates, and within 15 minutes the house was full and filled with chatter.

Anyone know what Keith is talking about above? I’m dying to know.

You know about the pickle ornament, right? Jason found it. I won't say any names, but I had my money on someone else finding it first.

Then it was time for the white elephant game. If you’ve been to our house, you know its small. And the living room is a long, narrow room. Cramming a tree, and 30 people playing a game into the space is tricky. Some of our smarter friends learned from past years, and early on picked their spots on the couch. They won’t be forced to sit on the floor or stand in the corner another year, dammit!

Some people play a classy white elephant game with good, usable presents. Not at this party. This crowd prefers…

The Hamburglar, a gift that has been circulating [with the exceptions of ’08, when the Wistricks were MIA] since the first year of the party. Daniel might look excited about having the ‘Burglar, but that didn’t last long. Keith stole it.

Light-up booze signs. This was one of the more popular gifts of the evening, and half of it somehow stayed at our house when all was said and done. I think an agreement was made that we had to display our half during each Christmas party, plugged in and lights blazing. Classy, I told you.

Lube. Suzanne won it, but I spied Amber checking it out later.

The White Elephant game does for this party what opening presents does at a baby shower. Everyone leaves right after. Well, everywhere except these four. We took their continued presence to mean that they want to play boardgames. Bring it on, then! We played a little Cranium.

Since Melissa had already left, Craig filled the slot of Game Rule Enforcer. He’s tough. Don’t try to describe a person when you’re supposed to be acting like the person. Craig does not allow it, and he's keeping an eye on you.

We also forced the Wistricks to recap their honeymoon trip. They had a bad experience, which we wouldn’t normally laugh about, but they are hysterical when they tell the story. It’s not the first time I’ve heard the story, and I still laughed until I cried.

Next thing we knew it was 2:45AM, and we all called it a night. If Craig hadn't looked at his watch, we would surely have made it to 4AM.

Thanks for coming, everyone! It’s always nice to see how everyone is doing. This year we did hear good, bad and shocking updates from some, and I think I speak for many of us when we stopped short at some of the news we heard. Because its not my news to share, I won’t go into details, but it make me think about how lucky we are to have our health and people who we enjoy and care about around us. We loved seeing you and please don’t be strangers. All of the pictures and more are at BabiesSquared shutterfly site.