1. Chris's Work Party. One of the perks of working in a tiny office for a small company is a fancy Christmas party. Bring on the steak house - Papa Brother's Steakhouse, to be exact. Which just happens to be our favorite in the whole city. There were only 8 of us, half of which were engineers, so I did my wifely duty and kept conversation moving along when needed. Regardless, you'll never find me complaining about a night off with Chris!
2. CTK Women's Christmas Dinner. Ugh I have a love-hate relationship with this annual event. Long story short, the way that tables is assigned is a little strange and the best way that I have found to get around it/insure an un-awkward evening is to host a table. So I have for the past several years, in spite of the fact that it stresses me out (I am completely incapable of decorating a "pretty" table) and I am always assigned a table in the back corner by the sound booth. But I always have a lovely time once I'm there, which is what brings me back the next year. This year my friend Kelly and I hosted a table together, so the pressure wasn't all on me. And we invited a friend, which was fun. Yes I had fun, yes I'm glad I did it. Maybe I'll do it again next year. (please note that Kelly had not yet placed her centerpiece and decorations yet - our table did actually look better than this when we were done!)
3. Happy Birthday Jesus Party. Hosted by one of Annabelle's classmates on a Friday morning, complete with birthday cake and party favors. We even took a gift - a stuffed animal to be donated to a local toy drive. I got to chat with some class moms a bit more and Annabelle had fun playing with her friends. We made a cute craft, ate pizza and cake - well, she ate the candy and frosting, I ate the cake. My poor sweet girl, stuck with her sometime clueless mother - she sat in a chair in front of the birthday cake whining, turning her back, calling and reaching for me. I scolded her a bit, thinking she was being anti-social and whiny. And then she got a bit panicky and I finally realized that she was afraid of the birthday candles. Oh heavens, this fear of fire is for real. I guess there will be no candles at her birthday!
4. Sewing Seeds Party. The annual church kids Christmas party, well for kids birth-kindergarten and their siblings. That's right, next year Sam will only qualify to attend as Annabelle's sibling. It gives me great pleasure that she has more things that are just hers these days. Anywho...we had a lot of fun! Someone "activity snack" - edible markers, anyone? Ornament crafts, the "cookie walk," bounce houses, festive photos, and friends. And a petting zoo. Sam hates petting zoos, wouldn't even consider entering. Annabelle loves the idea of animals but has grown timid of them over the past few months. On this day she decided that she was completely safe with the animals as long as she was holding onto one of my fingers. That's all she needed, one finger, just enough to know I'm there. I feel like there's a life lesson in that somewhere...
5. Lights In The Heights. What a great night! An annual neighborhood street party that is all about family fun in the early hours and has a reputation for getting a bit crazier as the night progresses. We always leave to put the kids to bed, so we love the festive family atmosphere. Our friends live on this year's "route" and graciously hosted a party. Super fantastic for so many reasons, one of which is that we only feel the need to walk the streets for 30-60 minutes and then we are pleased as punch to hang on the front porch, people watch and chat and hang with dear friends. The kids loved walking the streets, though, especially the bands that were playing on each block. They'd find a spot, claim it and sit down. Didn't matter the genre - church choir or heavy metal. But as the crowds grew, my confidence in being able to keep track of them all shrank, so back to "home base" we went. The kids played inside and out with so many others their age. At one point I looked over to find Sam with this group and I had this weird flash forward to his tween/teen years - I pray they contain friends like these. Chris had to drag me away way past the kids' bedtime, reminding me that we moved to the burbs and had a bit of a commute home. If he hadn't, I might have stayed well past my welcome. Some nights just feel good, and this was one of them.
7. Sam's Class Party. Hi I'm Lindsay, and I volunteered to be Grade Level Room Mom Coordinator for my very first year at the elementary school. Turns out that might not have been the world's best plan, because my co-coordinator and I missed a few somewhat crucial communications (honestly, not our fault, and I'll stand by that for years to come) and there was a bit more effort and drama in planning these parties than there should have been. BUT the room moms were fantastic sports and willing participants and more importantly, the kids had fun at their parties. I mean, how could you not? A sweet Christmas story, cookie and juice snack, and then some gingerbread house construction! Look at all that candy. I am honestly shocked at how little was consumed - the kids were pretty focused on construction! I had to get another sitter for Annabelle that morning, but in the end I am thankful for the school's request that younger siblings not attend the parties. It was so special to be able to focus on Sam and hang just with him during the party, and I'm pretty sure that he thought so, too. And I have to note how cute his teacher is: She took a quick minute to speak to the room moms while we were setting up, indicating that one or two younger siblings would probably show up and could we please help direct them away from her tubs of manipulatives, etc. "I spent a lot of time cleaning up the room, we're having company today!" I just loved that she cleaned her room for all the parents to come the same way that you would clean for house guests!
8. My Work Party. Again, a perk of a tinier office is another nice dinner party! This time at Rainbow Lodge, which surprisingly enough we had never been to before. I tried some game, as that is their specialty. It was good, but I think I am a beef girl through and through. I also enjoyed an eggnog - how festive am I?! Again, another excuse to get dressed up for a night out, and a fun time with my peeps. A fun perk for my 4-5 hour/week job!
9. The Thornton's Christmas Eve Open House. This is apparently an annual tradition, we wouldn't really know since this is the first time we've ever been in Houston for Christmas! The Thornton's are friends from the Heights (who also no longer live there), Sam and their son went to preschool together and Annabelle and their daughter are only a few weeks apart in age. Something totally different than anything I've ever done on Christmas eve, and a welcome distraction for our poor boy who was having a very difficult time being patient on that day. We went to Christmas Eve Service right after, so next to their front door was our best shot at a family picture this year - oops!
All of those, plus a Friday night grown-up birthday party, and my kids have started to expect babysitters as a rule rather than exception. Thankful that they have fun with them and that we have put together a good list!
**My number of parties attended exceeded my number of Christmas movies watched this year. I'll try harder to even things out next year.
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