Believe it or not, I have a fear of having to host events, unless it is for immediate family or close friends. It seems I lack hosting skills and I feel anxious about having to prepare for and execute an event.
This year the staff asked if the office Christmas party could be held at our house. Without consulting me, Alan told them that it could. For the past several years, the celebration took place at a restaurant. No house to clean, no decorating, no cooking, and no planning at all was necessary. Just drive to the restaurant, eat, pay the bill, and leave all the dirty dishes. Easy peasy! This year, that would all change. Although I thought that having it at our house would make it a lot more intimate and it would be much easier to converse and spend time getting to know each other better, I felt pressure at having to provide a perfect evening for everyone. There would be 13 in attendance.
Instead of curling up into a ball and hiding like I felt like doing, I accepted reality and went to work on trying to provide a perfect event. With Jane's help, I came up with some ideas for table decorations, hors d'oeuvres, drinks, party favors, etc.
I took pictures of the tables before the party started.
Everyone loved the centerpieces and the little Christmas stockings that held the utensils. All in all, things turned out real well.
Fortunately, the event was catered by Famous Dave's Barbecue Restaurant in Palmdale. It was delicious and it was nice not to have to worry about cooking a meal.
(Left to right - Lee, Jack, Alan, Emilee, and Kareem)
(Left to right - Kathi, Janene, Mark, Kayla, Juan, Heather, and Joe)
I forgot to take a picture of the table with the hors d'oeuvres (meatballs and spinach & archicoke dip), cake balls, and drinks (slush, egg nog, and water) but you can kind of see it behind Alan in the picture above.
After dinner, we played games, opened gifts, and had dessert (brownies w/ice cream). It was a lot of fun. Everyone seemed to have a great time. They even said they want to have it at our house every year. GULP! I wasn't expecting that.
Merry Christmas!
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