At the starting line... |
My old friend, Nancy |
At the finish line... |
After the run, we rushed home and started getting ready for our church congregation's Christmas party. Ryan was recently asked to be the president of the men's group, but the old president forgot to tell him that the men were in charge of the Christmas party this year. Ryan found out with hardly any notice, but somehow (with about a million phone calls to Ryan's mom for ideas and lots of help from our friends at church), we got everything done. I am so relieved that it is over and that it was a relative success--not perfect by any means, but it wasn't a total flop either. Phew.
Then tonight, we had several couples over for a big Christmas dinner. I am not used to all of this excitement and hosting of events--I am generally a pretty boring person who doesn't host or get out much. But for several years I've wanted to plan a "progressive dinner" around Christmastime, and this was the only Sunday that it would work for us; so even though it was the day after the church party, I decided we should do it. The idea behind this event goes back to my years as a teenage girl when our youth group at church would hold a progressive dinner in December. We would meet at one house for appetizers, then we would hold lighted candles as we caroled to the next house, where we would eat the main course, and then we would walk and sing with our candles all the way to the last house, where we would have dessert and a devotional. I think candles are perfectly romantic, especially during the holidays, and I have wanted to recreate this magical tradition with friends as an adult. A few years ago, I planned a progressive dinner while we were living in Buffalo but had to cancel it last minute because we were contacted by an expectant mother who was considering adoption and wanted us to come meet her. (That adoption didn't work out, but it was worth going to meet her because she lived in NYC, and NYC is gorgeous at Christmastime.) I was determined to make the progressive dinner happen this year; but, alas, Mother Nature disagreed with me and sent freezing temperatures to Denver just in time to make it impossible to walk from house to house caroling with little kids. It was 70 degrees earlier this week, but right now it is 7 degrees. Go figure.
So we had everyone here for all three courses instead. We rearranged our furniture to accommodate seating for 12 adults and 7 kids, I pulled out a few Christmas decorations from the boxes in the storage unit, and we quadrupled our recipe for Zucchini Soup. Progressive or not, it was still a lot of fun.
Make-shift banquet table |
Noah helped Dad get ready for the party |
Only Dad lets him stand on the open dishwasher Good grief. :) |
Does anyone else chuck everything in a side room when you are hosting a party??
I am worn out. I am going to clear some space on that bed of mine and crash right this minute. On tomorrow's "to-do" list? CLEAN THE HOUSE. (Maybe Noah will help me.)
Yay! I'm not the only one throwing stuff into another bedroom! I had a friend admit to dumping her dirty dishes into the bathtub and pulling the curtain closed. And by "a friend," I mean me. Ha ha ha!
ReplyDeleteI dump stuff into the bedroom all the time when we're going to have guests! And Chelsea, what a good idea of what to do with the dishes!!! I am going to remember that one. Or try to get my house actually clean before guests come over. I can dream, right? :D
ReplyDeleteMy room looks like that most of the time. It was so fun to be invited. Progressive or not. ;) Thanks again! <3
ReplyDeleteThat is EXACTLY what our room looks like when we have company. Kudos for getting the Christmas party together!
ReplyDeleteMy closet had your room beat until last night when I finally cleaned it.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, that looks EXACTLY like our room during parties!!! And he should be careful about that dishwasher---if it breaks off I'm quite certain you will have to buy a new one! :/
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