Our Christmas Party

Every year on the weekend before Christmas we have a party. It’s our time to host a big gathering and we really look forward to it.  This has been a really rough fall for me with two surgeries and the flu.  I wasn’t sure how we were going to pull it off  but we did it with a LOT of help from our family and friends.  Mom came out for a week and helped with the baking and the decorating. She had to fly home before the party but it was wonderful having her here.

Liza did some baking once she got home from school. Jenny and Liza decorated the tree.

There is always lots of food, but the big draw of the evening is the homemade eggnog. Our good friends Meara and Philip shared the secret recipe several years back and it’s become a Christmas tradition. Philip and I get together to make it every year. This years batch was especially good.

Rick and I make the main dishes, but lots of people bring food. Without any preplanning, there is always the perfectt mix of salads, veges and desserts to compliment the meal.  There is no way to mention each dish, but a special shout out to the makers of the brussel sprouts. You are eternally in my good graces.

The year’s party was especially exciting when my dearest friend Kristy and her family walked through the front door, having come all the way from Walnut Creek, California to surprise me. It’s not often that I’m tongue-tied, speechless and in tears all at the same time. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. They stayed the night and we got to spend a wonderful day together before they had to head for home.

This party always reminds me of how blessed we are to be a part of a wonderful community of friends. Thank you so much and Merry Christmas.