All tomorrow's parties

Tonight was my annual Christmas Eve Eve white elephant party. I am buzzing with iced tea, chocolate, and over-stimulation. Luckily the B is fast asleep after a long night of the third element - and days of anxiety being left in his jumper to fend for himself while I cooked, cleaned, and decorated.

It was a very pleasant evening and everything went well. But I have to admit I had an extremely frustrating day of all the last minute prep - including hauling bag after bag of garbage and recyclables down the stairs, trimming plants out of the walkway, hauling heavy bags of drinks and ice up the stairs, and tons of last minute food prep (that took about seven hours of non-stop work, except for one nursing session and diaper change) - only to discover every hour or so yet another person posting on the Facebook invite that they can't make it. This is just the way party planning goes, especially at this time of year when everyone's sick and everyone's kids are sick. Everyone had legitimate, understandable reasons for not showing up to my party. But when you have a tiny house and you can only invite 30 or so people, and then ten people decide they're not coming hours before, it kind of fucks with your preparations. And God bless those wonderful people who did show up and brought all their good will, gifts and food. I throw these parties to keep in touch with people I don't get to see as often anymore, and keep them in my son's life. When there's always an excuse to not get together it kind of hurts my feelings, I've got to be honest. But I'll try to put that aside and focus on the people who did come. Everyone I know who throws parties has this issue so it's certainly not personal.

Bumpus was pretty much over it as soon as the party started and it was a real struggle to balance him, serving hot hors d'oeuvres, greeting people, managing coats and bags and drinks and seats and lighting, etc etc. It dawned on me that next year he can be UPSTAIRS with a sitter if I so choose, and in bed at a normal time. How different that'll be when there's a private space in this house!!!

Here's my cozy home all lit up for the party. I owe everything to Pinterest.