Holiday Party 2009!

Our annual holiday party has come and gone once again, and once again, I did not do a very good job of taking pictures, especially of the food and table pre-party! Ugh, SO BAD!

It started with the invite, several were in contention, but this was the clear winner for us. We labeled a couple of the girls as my friends T and sister J, and then a mystery man with the boy and I! We had a lot of fun picking out invitations and putting the wording together as usual, always one of our favorite parts.

Some of the first guests to arrive getting to know one another. We always invite friends from different aspects of our lives who may or may not know one another. It is always fun to see how they are going to mix together, and no surprise, they always get along!

We do a fun gift swap every year, which really turns out to be a lot of fun. Everyone brings a gift about $20 in value. People really get creative. Everyone gets a number and when we are ready to start the low number goes first and picks a present, from there everyone either picks a wrapped present from under the tree or has the opportunity to steal a present from someone who has already opened. Gifts are only allowed to move three times and then it is frozen.

It is so fun to see the fun things that people bring, and of course every year there are a couple of "hot" items.

Here the boy is opening the Viking Snuggie which turned out to be one of the "hot" items!

The boy no longer has the Snuggie :(

We had a great time with all of our friends! It was so much fun and such a good time, I can't wait for next year!

 

Such wonderful friends, from all different walks of life, all so interesting, charming and just thoroughly enjoyable. I wish I could just bottle these moments to keep with me all of the time!