A Weekend of Holiday Fun

Ryan and I have had a weekend of holiday festivities.  It all started with an Ugly Sweater 5K on Saturday morning.  There were 7,500 runners there in tacky holiday garb.  It was fantastic.  Lots of dogs were dressed up too--and, really, does it get any tackier than that?  My friend Nancy (whom I have known since fourth grade, when we both wore ugly sweaters and sweatshirts on a regular basis) was the one who informed us about this classy event and invited us to run with her.  I'm so glad she did.  There was hot chocolate at the mile-markers, random inflatable Christmas decorations all along the route, and snow machines blowing fake, bubbly snow at the finish line.  Our sweaters were courtesy of Sally Westover's closet.  My mom had many amazing qualities, but she didn't have much of a fashion sense.  I wish you could see the sequin detailing on my sweater more clearly in the photos--it was super ugly, just take my word for it.

At the starting line...

My old friend, Nancy

At the finish line...

Unfortunately, Mr. Noah was grumpy and screamed through most of the run.  This is very unlike him--he usually loves being outside and going for walks.  Maybe he was frightened by all of the heinous sweaters...or the ginormous inflatable Santa...

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. :)

Now that this weekend of chaotic fun is over, our bedroom looks like this:

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.)