Successful Merrymaking

Well well well, our 2nd annual Christmas party has officially come and gone. I've had that sort of down feeling you often get after a big event has taken place and, while it was simply awesome, it makes me sad that it's over. I think when you invest yourself in something and spend a great deal of time on it, there's bound to be some blue feelings that follow once it ends or is over. That's kinda how I've felt but let's not focus on any of that. Let's focus on the par-tay!

Thank the lord Allison and I were much smarter this year about our preparation. As I mentioned in my last post, we'd done a fair amount of work in the days leading up to the party and it proved to be so worth it. When you host a party for over 50 people and you take care of every aspect yourself, it's a great deal of work. It's tiring and some of the fun gets sucked out until you're dressed and ready for guests to arrive. I had so much to be excited about though the morning of since Amanda and Jay were driving up from Baltimore!

I woke up Saturday morning, got a nice 7 mile run in, and met Amanda by 11am. We sent Jay up to my apartment to relax, parked the car, and grabbed coffee while chattering away with excitement to see each other. As a side note, I must point out the most important piece of news...Amanda is PREGNANT! I'm so thrilled for her and Jay and I'm ecstatic to have another little one to visit soon. (Ami, you're next!) Anyway, the three of us visited for a couple of hours and I can't even explain how good it was to see them. Both she and Jay were in town at different times back in October so I was lucky to have time with them so soon after. As they went off to check out the tree at Rockefeller, I headed over to Allison's to do the last of our prep work.

By 8pm, we were totally ready for everyone to arrive and holy crapola, was it a crowd. We had double the amount of people there this year which was totally nuts in Allison's apartment. However, we had an absolute blast. So many friends came that I haven't seen in a while, in addition to the 'usual suspects', and I loved being able to introduce so many circles of people. I think some people might have made new friends too which I think is awesome. It reminds me of introducing my crew back in ATL and having them all become friends. :)

I don't have all the photos ready from the party yet but I know there are some great ones. I'll look forward to posting them when I'm not so crazed. For now, I'll just keep reflecting on how fabulous the evening was, how beautiful/handsome everyone looked, and how great it was to kick off the holiday season with so many people I love. It's such a joy that Amanda and Jay were here to join the fun too and that meant the absolute world to me. I love the holidays so much and it's fantastic that I'm blessed with the means to throw a party like this. Such great memories made! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, that's for sure. ;)