Celebrating Christmas with the Girls!

My single girlfriends came over Friday night and we celebrated this most wonderful time of the year with food, beverage, and fun.  It was great to have a few friends over to enjoy the holidays and to toast my new house.  Of course, they all loved seeing it all decorated for Christmas and it was a fun and festive time.  I enjoyed showing off the house just a little bit, after all the hard work that went into it this year.  It’s nice to sit back and relax now.

Keys to having a stress free party:

1. Have everyone bring a dish, that really helps with keeping things easy and non-stressful.
2. Serve simple beverages.
3. Make one dessert to share (see mine below).
4. Have the house decorated for Christmas and enjoy candlelight and Christmas tree lights.
5. Christmas music in the background adds some festivity to the evening.

Some of my blog friends did Secret Santa this year and mine sent me this cute chalkboard banner, so I promptly wrote Merry Christmas on it and hung it on my fireplace.  It’s so cute and will be fun for lots of occasions.

I welcomed them in with my own chalkboard message in the kitchen.

Salads are always a hit, so I made a nice big fresh salad with cranberries and candied pecans.

We toasted with some tasty beverages and I made a refreshing pitcher of pomegranate champagne, recipe found here. It’s not very strong at all, but lightly refreshing.  Those cute beverage labels are samples from Martha Stewart, called Vintage Girl.

I made up a batch of Chocolate Salted Caramel Pretzel bark, which I posted last year.  It’s good, people, really good!

We gathered all the food on the dining room table, buffet style.  Friends Beth (in green) and Kristin in blue.  Tracey is in the middle.

Jill is another friend who I met blogging here in town.

Everyone brought their fave appetizer and we had plenty to eat.  It was all yummy!

Gathering in the den was fun and we had some lively conversations.  It’s always fun to get together with girlfriends, don’t you think?

Jill and my new roommate, Rhonda (in blue).  I did put another colorful tabletop tree down here and this room is still evolving and is definitely not finished yet.

Lynn and Tammy. We all brought an ornament to exchange.

Rhonda and Beth. Beth is a sweet friend who I also met blogging.  She lives in Orlando, but grew up here in Marietta and we met over the summer and became fast friends.  She was here this weekend and I invited her to my party.  So glad she could make it!

We had fun with the ornament exchange and each chose an ornament and then as the Dirty Santa game goes, could steal from others if they had something you wanted.  That was fun!

Several of us wanted these pretty glass acorns and keys, but they were already dead by the time it got to me.  I ended up with a pretty gold partridge in a pear tree, which I was happy with too.  Fun to exchange ornaments and then remember every year where they came from.

My pretty glass cloche from Wayfair filled with vintage ornaments looked so pretty in the treelight.

And we took a group shot with those left at the end:  me, Beth, Rhonda, Tammy, and Lynn

I’m so grateful for my single girlfriends, who have been through disappointments in life, just like I have.  We have a bond and understanding that life is not always easy, but friends are so important to have and cherish.  And I cherish every single one of my friends, married and single.

Wanted to give you all an official introduction to my new roommate, Rhonda.  She’s a sweet friend who I’ve known for at least 10 years and we met at church here in town years ago.  She is a freelance writer and I wanted to put her website out there in case anyone might be looking for a copy writer, she’s always looking to expand her business.

Rhonda is a freelance business writer. She helps small and medium-size businesses by creating web content, email campaigns, sales letters, newsletter articles and case studies. One primary service she provides is rewriting websites so they attract more visitors and then convert more of those visitors to prospects and customers. You can find samples of her work and her contact information on her website at www.rfcopywriting.com.

And this is the cute little boy, Cody, who is now living at my house too, since Rhonda adopted him a few months ago. He’s almost a year old and is very sweet and is totally in love with me.  I love dogs, so it won’t be a problem for me to love him back.  He’s adorable and funny.  Rhonda is getting her room all put together and I had some extra pieces that work well in her room, a small oak desk and chest, rug and chair, so she’s bought a new bed and will be adding a few things in there to personalize her space too.  She decided to sell her furniture when she moved back here from Denver, since she wasn’t attached to any of it.  Rhonda is originally from Prattville, AL, but moved to Atlanta a few years ago and lived here for several years, before moving to Denver for 6 years.  Colorado was never really home to her, so she’s happy to be back in the South, back home, and I’m happy to have her moving in with me.

So, that’s a wrap up on my Christmas party this year.  It was low key, relaxing and fun and I’m looking forward to enjoying Christmas with my family in a few days.

I’m a Hometalk ambassador and wanted to take the time to give them a shout-out too.  I was going to give out some Hometalk mugs to my guests, but they didn’t arrive in time.   If you haven’t been to Hometalk, it’s a very fun website celebrating projects and rooms from homeowners all over the country.  Members can share their successes and home joys with everyone else and get ideas, inspiration, and professional advice on anything home related.  I’ll be sharing my party at Hometalk too.

Hometalk and Wayfair partnered with some bloggers to celebrate the season with these beautiful cloches, like you see here in my post. Thanks to Wayfair for providing my cloche. I wasn’t compensated to write this post about my party. 

On a very sad note, my thoughts and prayers are with the families of Newtown CT, as they face a week of the aftermath of such profound tragedy that  we can’t even imagine the pain they are experiencing.  May God wrap them up in His love as only He can do.

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