It’s the day after the big event that was five months in the making, and it was an unqualified success! We (as usual) had plenty of food and everyone seemed to like what we made. Today Denis and I enjoyed leftovers but I’m happy to report that I managed to give away three plates of food last night so we have a little less than we might have had!
In the end we had 19 guests come out of the 27 that said they could make it. They came with plenty of appetite, great conversation and AMAZINGLY BAD White Elephant gifts! We had several return gifts show up, and LOTS of stealing – in fact, our friend Ted had to go to the tree at least six times because his picks kept going into other people’s hands! Our friend Dan also went to the tree 3-4 times.
The gift I brought, an old 1970s avocado green stand mixer, was stolen once, and then at the end of the party the original “owner” was able to get it back through the generosity of the person that stole it from her. When I told her it had been my mom’s mixer for many years she was thrilled to know she was getting a mixer so well loved. Denis’s gift, a Star Wars Christmas album and a CD of Air Supply’s Christmas “hits” didn’t go over too well. We assured the eventual winner that she needed to investigate that Star Wars album because it may be worth more than the few bucks Denis spent on it.
The kids had a great time playing games with the guests before their bedtime hour hit. And the fact they slept through the very loud WE game was a miracle – it got quite raucous as the game went on.
We had lots of first-timers and they seemed to have a good time, which makes me happy.
And let the record state – the last of the food and party prep was done at 5:15 p.m., which is when Denis went to go hop in the shower. He doesn’t believe me when I say that last year we were ready early, and so he told me specifically to note the time that we were officially DONE this year. That time was 5:15 p.m. when he went up to take his shower. Our first guest arrived about 5:45 p.m. So next year when we have the same discussion, I’ll be able to come to C-hog and say without a doubt that we were ready EARLY and had a reasonably stress-free (but still busy) day.
I jumped in the shower at 5:15, got showered and dressed by 5:25, just five minutes before the party was supposed to officially start and was working the ENTIRE day on party stuff. Let the record show when you come back to check C-hog next year you can say without a doubt that we were NOT ready EARLY. Maybe you can say that. Not me. Sheesh!
But you have to admit it was never STRESSFUL – we weren’t panicking with an hour to go that nothing was done. It was a methodical, calm and orderly day and we WERE done ahead of schedule. Maybe only 15 minutes ahead of schedule, but still ahead of schedule. I mean, we spent 15 minutes just figuring out the order for bringing out the food! And you also have to admit you did some work stuff during the morning – you didn’t JUST do party stuff.
For the record still. I’m sure I could have done ten more things had I been given the extra time. If you think five minutes is ahead of schedule, that is your opinion. And I did do maybe an hour’s worth of work in the early morning if you want to count that. You just can’t stand being wrong, eh? LOL
I admitted I was wrong about something the other day, didn’t I? Or maybe I’m wrong…