Weekend Fun/Christmas With Friends

It finally feels like Christmas! It all started when my Dad arrived on Friday, and we did Christmas with him that evening. Leaving the pics small...it was dark and they are from my phone so the quality isn't great.

 New Zip Up for Dad.

 A recovery thingy for Mark's truck, for next time it gets stuck. 

 Sky picked out Grandpa's hat, gloves and scarf  and they were supposed to be showing off their matching items, but Sky wasn't having it. 

Really I think if you gave her empty boxes to unwrap that's all she really wants. 

After Christmas with Grandpa it was time to get ready for Christmas with friends...which I didn't take a single pic of. I'm lame like that. Or, maybe it was because I was enjoying the flowing champagne and having fun and just didn't think about it. 

I did get pictures of the prep though. I have to say I had a few rather brilliant ideas! 

If you're going to have a house full of people take advantage of an Amazon Local coupon, or other discount site, and get housecleaning! We booked a cleaner through Homejoy and in 3 hours she cleaned all the baseboards, window seals and tracks, dusted the entire house top to bottom and cleaned both bathrooms. The only thing I did was vacuum and sweep! She even put a sticker on the folded TP! It only would have been better if I had scheduled one to do the cleanup after as well. Mostly it's a bunch of wine & champagne glasses, so it's not too bad. 

The other brilliant idea...make dinner the night before and just re-heat! This is a bacon, beef, mushroom rague that I made Friday, and was able to re-heat in batches for everyone on Sat! The stove was clean, and not hot so served as extra counter space, there were no huge pots and pans taking up room in the kitchen, and while I love cooking it was nice not to be stuck in the kitchen! This is the way to go for all future large gatherings that I'm cooking a main meal for! It only take a bit of planning to make sure the meal you make is good the next day, thankfully this one gets better as the days go by and the flavors meld. 

Since I didn't have to clean, or cook this is what I was doing up until an hour before the party! All I had to do was toss on a go too party outfit and wait for people to show up! 

We ended the evening watching White Christmas, and now I finally feel like it's officially Christmas time!