The Aleksza Holiday Party

This installment of the blog will be less about Katherine and more about a tradition we’ve started…

Stephen and I have a few cousins that live in Raleigh and my sisters live in Spring Lake, but with that exception, our families are spread across the East coast. We’ve come to see many of our friends (who happen to be co-workers in many instances) as our extended family.

So since the first year Stephen and I moved to NC we’ve hosted a holiday party at our house. It started off the first year with a group of new employees from work. They were folks that were from out of town, staying over for the weekend and we decided… it’s the holidays… they’re not home… Let’s have a little party. So we did. We’ve had, I believe, it’s four new hire classes since and we’re on year six of the party. This year while we didn’t have a new hire class staying over the weekend… we did Par-Tay.

It feels like each year we’ve had some sort of “thing” that the party is remembered for. And not always in a positive way!! Last year for example, it was I burned myself 15 minutes before the party was set to begin. We won’t get into all the ugly details – I’m sure I have it documented somewhere in this blog – but suffice to say it left such an impression that this year the menu had to change. No more Boston Market catering. No, this year I said how about if we do an Italian theme and I’ll make everything. Great idea… So I spend a whole day a few weeks before the party getting everything ready. We put it all in the pans to freeze in preparation for party day… One week before the party… Stephen goes out to the garage freezer and finds that everything in the freezer is 30-40% defrosted. We don’t know how long the freezer was out or when it went out but everything in there had to go – Including the 4 large pans of food I’d made.

So after my hissy fit and saying – we’re just ordering pizza – only to be denied by Stephen - we went to Costco and rebuilt the menu… I again fell in love with that store. I really wanted to buy the 400lb wheel of parmesan cheese but Stephen told me we wouldn’t need that much for the party. Really? How could we NOT?

We invited about 60 people to come and I think we had about 45 or so that were actually able to make it. Our largest event yet. I wasn’t sure how Katherine would fare with the large crowd. She did pretty well! There’s something to be said for being in your own environment and having 10 or so other kids to play with. Katherine was AMAZED at some of the things her toys did. She honestly had no idea that horsey could fly… Neither did Mommy or Daddy for that matter. :P

I think biggest hit of the party was the chocolate fountain. Adults and children alike lined up to dip their treats. We had strawberries, pretzels, animal crackers, marshmallows and homemade rice krispy treats. The rice krispy treats and strawberries were my favorite. Mmmmmmmmm Some may have even dipped some ziti… but they had had a beverage or two beforehand. =P

I think everyone had a good time – and left with a full belly and a smile. We’re grateful for having such wonderful friends who we can share the holiday season with. Our album of pictures… Thanks to Beth for taking them!

Holiday Party 2009

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