December 5, 2009 – Day 339Our third annual family Christmas party took place at my nephew Shayne and his wife Sandy’s home tonight. Shayne and Sandy go all out at Christmas time; their home was beautifully decorated – inside and out. Outdoor decorations included a Christmas arbor decorated with plastic candies, Christmas bells, greenery, and lights – with a nutcracker standing guard on each side. Garland wound with multi colored lights outlined the garage door and was finished off with red velvet bows. A row of individually decorated mini trees lined the sidewalk to the house; and even the front doormat was a snowflake design. The interior included six elaborately decorated trees, 2 lit-up villages, a nutcracker that was about 6’ tall and three TVs (including Shayne’s 92” screen) with images of logs burning on a fire! The tables and place settings were extravagant with burgundy silky cloth tablecloths, large square plates and white cloth napkins folded to perfection. Above all, the mood was festive and fun!
Each person (or family) attending brought along a dish to contribute to a potluck dinner and the combined efforts were a feast for both eyes and palette! Appetizers, main course dishes and desserts – each category was overflowing in abundance.
After dinner we had a Chinese gift exchange. Gifts were chosen from the pile (according to the number each person drew from a hat), traded and re-traded amongst the group. The gift I opened was a soft cozy blanket that feels like love in physical form but it wasn’t mine for long before it was taken from me by my sister Darlene and traded a couple more times during the game. Once the game was over and all the trading was complete, a few of us did some “black market” trading of our own – and I ended up with the blanket that I became so attached to in the few minutes that it originally belonged to me.
Twenty-one family members attended the party. My son Travis, his family, my sister Marilyn, her guy Cleve and her daughter Amy were unable to make it. Ken and Barry both had to work so they were also missing from the party but everyone else was there. Because of the snow storm that we had on Friday, Ian and Christine were unsure whether they would make the three hour trip from Cold Lake and in fact hadn’t decided until about 11:15 Saturday morning that they would come down. It was wonderful that they were able to be there!
It was a magical night!
That was a great description, when you put it like that is almost sounds like too much! :P
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed yourself, we had a great time as well and it was really special to have everyone together like that.
The party was sure alot of fun and I am glad that everyone made it home safe and sound.
ReplyDelete