Daughter's Annual Christmas Party

     The Paperless Post invitation read: Come for Soup, Drinks and Sweets! And so they did. Forty or so of our dear friends gathered with us at our home Saturday night. Our annual Christmas party is one of my favorite evenings that I look forward to all year long. Even the downpour that preceded the next day's snow certainly didn't dampen anyone's spirits.
     Here are some pictures of our holiday decor. We did have to modify a few things since we have a toddler (Little One) who is in constant motion and loves nothing better than to poke, prod, taste, and take apart everything. You might notice that the tree is somewhat sparsely decorated with mostly unbreakable ornaments. And since several strands of lights didn't make it to another year, we tried to make do with what we had. We kept the table simple with pine roping in the chandeliers and more pine roping lining the center of the wooden trestle table. The Mom helped me tuck magnolia leaves, fresh holly, other greens and white spider mums into tiny vases all along the table. Candlesticks in varying heights completed the look.

     We kept the food simple as well. My sweet husband made the homemade soups (tomato basil and potato) and we served them from the kitchen in an assortment of Christmas mugs. The table held an array of old fashioned treats like red and green (Christmas colors, of course) pepper jelly with cream cheese, strawberry trifle, chess tarts, pecan tarts, chocolate mint brownies, lemon squares, sugar cookies, and peppermint bark. We also served a veggie tray with hummus and had a cheese and fruit tray, but nothing that required the use of an oven at the last minute which made everything so much easier.
       Here are pictures of just a few of the friends who came to share the joy!

           Special thanks to the dear friend who took all of the pics for me and unfortunately did not make it into any of them!

          And an added postscript. The next evening my husband and I attended a Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert. Honey and Pappy came to our house to babysit Little One. While they were sitting quietly in the den...the Christmas tree crashed over onto the floor. The poor thing is no longer wearing the few ornaments it had on before and is now woefully wedged in tightly between the window and a large chair. I am just glad it made it through the party before disaster struck!