Christmas Dinner Party

This is our fabulous 2010 MOPS Steering Committee. I love serving with these ladies. Not only is this a very fun and dynamic group, but how gorgeous are all these moms????

I don't know if you have noticed, but I love Christmas. I love parties. I love glitter. I love pretty things. I love hosting. I love friends. I love food. And I love cocktails.

(Not in this order, might I add)

So, when we decided to do an at-home Christmas dinner for our MOPS Steering Party this year, I kind of got a wee-bit excited.

Just a little.

I didn't go TOO over board.

I wanted to.

But, I held back.

A little.

But, not a lot.

You judge for yourself.

I wanted to set one long table for all the guests. So, naturally, I moved all the furniture in my house to make it happen. The dining room became the formal sitting room and vice versa.

After almost 9 years of marriage, I had to bust out the Goo-Gone to remove price stickers from some of my china and crystal pieces.

I found these gorgeous red hand-blown glass trees at Hobby Lobby for 40% off. Yes please, I'll take 8.

I found these sweet little ornament place holders at Micheal's for 2 for $1. Add a fancy font, a paper punch, and some green ink around the edges and it looks like a million bucks.

Just for fun, I had all the girls email crazy/interesting/funny/unknown facts about themselves to me before the party. After printing them out and adding the fanciness listed above, I set them around the table for people to guess who belongs to what funny quirk. The one photographed above belongs to my friend, Erin, who grew up with a James Bond-esque dad and had a Red Alert phone in their house.

She is cool.

I am not.

My interesting fact was that I fell out of a house when I was a kid.

So, not only am I not cool, I am a klutz.

The crystal sparkled.
The silver flatware was set per the great, Emily Post's protocol.
The linens were crisp.
The chargers were placed perfectly under the china plates.
The placeholders were inviting.
I stepped back and looked at the perfect table of Christmas-y cheer and was pleased.
I smile.
Then, at the far end of the table, I see something.
What is that?
Hum?

Two lone Hot Wheels cars.
They were not invited.
But, they sure looked nice next to the Waterford.

You can't have 20 moms who have the night "off" over for a dinner party and not serve some seriously fun drinks. In addition to wine of all types, I mixed up some holiday cocktails. I made Christmas Cosmos (really they were just Cosmos served in green sugar-rimmed champagne flutes) and Spiked Apple Cider.
The cider was dangerously good.
Okay, Okay... I will share with you.


1 bottle of Champagne
3 Cups of Apple Cider
1/4- 1/2 Cup of Goldschlager

Yes, that's right. I went to the liquor store and bought Goldschlager. So what of it?

Once mixed, this drink lots a WHOLE lot like plain ole' apple juice, so be sure not to confuse the cocktails with your Treetop juice for your little one.
That would be bad.

And the Piece de Resistance (insert pretentious French accent here).
The dessert.
It's really nothing fancy, just a chocolate cake/pudding/whip cream/Heath Bar trifle, but it is yummy and anything served with a candy cane garnish makes you feel special.
In my opinion.

The pretty ladies...

In the end, Josh was wise and grabbed his two Hot Wheels cars and fled the scene of the girly party. This is the evening Chris took him to see the amazing train exhibit at the mall. I think he much preferred a train adventure over a night hanging out with Mommy x 20!!!

On a side note... what is up with blogger and all this weird formatting stuff?? I can't fix it, I've tried everything. Random underlining, crazy color changes, not letting me center my text. You're messing with me, Blogger!!! Give a girl a break! Anyway, sorry for the funny looking post.