The Christmas party...

Was a rousing success! Brad's sister even came down from New York to join us which couldn't have been more wonderful. We managed to even arrange for a bit of snow to add to the ambiance. Doesn't the snow make the house look just so, I don't know, poetic.
It was COLD; probably hovering around 20ish. But on the up side of that, our garage was a very convenient walk in freezer. We did lose a few people who were going to come up from DC because of the weather, so it wasn't all good.

We set up the bar in the dining room which again proved to be the key to getting people to actually mingle throughout the house. Though here in the early part of the evening, there weren't many people hanging out in the bar... that changed quite a bit as the night wore on.
This shot was taken right after the previous shot. As is typical everyone started in the kitchen and it's such an open room that it wants people to congregate in there. I don't know why it is always so important for me to get everyone out of the kitchen, but it is.

I thought this was going to be a funnier picture than it is, but the picture just doesn't do it justice. That's a king size bed under all those coats and it was nearly invisible and about 2 feet higher than normal. In person it was really a funny sight, so it might be that this will only be amusing to me, but that's okay, that's true of a lot of things.

This is Georgia grilling Alice's new 'friend' and as soon as I snapped the picture Georgia complained that they'd needed advanced warning - candid shots just won't do for her LOL.
So here is the approved picture of the three of them. They are all looking at and pointing to the blank TV screen. - geesh. Do you think it defeats Georgia's intentions that I posted both pictures?

Georgia and me in a 'sorority pose'. Isn't she just beautiful and this picture doesn't do her justice. And yes, I never did get around to putting on any party clothes. I kept my jeans and tee shirt on all night long. But I figured, it's my party and I'll look like a slob if I want to.

Anyway - we had another great party celebrating with our friends and family although my mom and step dad totally dissed us at the last minute. They got a better offer and even though they had RSVP'd to us first, they totally went to the other party. They did come and spend much of the afternoon with us; going to kids' basketball games and helping with last minute prep, so that's something. (and no mom, I'm not remotely mad).

Now more than a week later, Brad and I still haven't sat down to write up what went well and what didn't which will make planning the party next year so much easier, but it's on the list.

Camela