On Saturday evening, I hosted a small group of friends at a Twelfth Night party to conclude the Christmas season. This is the second year I have done this, and I am thinking of making it a permanent thing as long as I live in Boston. I really like having the after-Christmas Christmas party. I find that people are more relaxed and don't have as many things going on, so there is a better chance that your guests will be better able to fit the party into their busy schedules.
Now, as seems to be the pattern with things, on the day that I host a party, the weather is unseasonably warm and humid. Both of those conditions were in effect on Saturday night. Because it was so warm, I ended up bagging my original plan to make hot cider, and stuck with a pitcher of sidecars and several bottles of white wine and rosé. For food, I had good assortment of cheese and crackers, my mom's heavenly crabmeat spread, mini-cucumber sandwiches, some spicy chicken spring rolls, "pigs in blankets," Turkish Delight and a cranberry lemon gingerbread trifle.
The party was supposed to start around 4 pm (tea time,) and I figured that most people would call it quits around 8 pm. Little did I realize that people were really going to enjoy themselves...until 10:30 pm! I ended up running out of both the sidecars and the food. EP went down the street to get more brandy for the sidecars (we went through two bottles of brandy and triple sec; I am frightened to think about how many drinks that is,) and I called up the street to get some pizzas.
I was so pleased that everyone was having a good time and getting along with each other especially since it was a mix of college friends, book club members and work colleagues. So I worry when I am the common factor between these people, and I have to be hostess so I didn't get a lot of time to socialize. I think that it makes a difference if you play games in teams at parties where not everyone knows each other very well; it creates a bonding experience. We ended up playing both "salad bowl" where RECK loaded the bowl with the names of obscure American Presidents (I looked up Chester A. Arthur when I got into work this morning), and EP's "VH-1 'I love the 80s'" board game where people sang pop hits of the 80s without the words!!
I am sad to report that I did go into "hyper hostess mode" for a little while; fortunately, I snapped out of it shortly after it started. (I wonder if Martha Stewart ever has one of those anxiety fits.) But on the whole, I was well behaved and didn't over eat or over drink. In fact, I didn't eat very much at all, and I had no leftovers so yesterday was a Lean Cuisine day for both lunch and dinner. I suppose that it probably a good thing. I am just so happy that the party went well and that everyone had such a good time!
Of course, it wouldn't have been a crazy, psuedo-British Christmas party without the Christmas crackers!!! I am STILL finding confetti from the crackers in the corners of my apartment, despite the fact that I have vacuumed twice!! (They were really nice crackers that I got at the Christmas Tree Shop, eight per box for $7.00.)
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