This awesomesauce pose (plus holiday “sleigh” shirt!) can only mean one thing: we hosted and SURVIVED our third(ish) annual Holiday Flash Craft party tonight, and, AMEN. HALLELUJAH!!! WE. DID. IT!
2022:
I’m so grateful to God that I have the presence of mind during events like this to be in the moment. Sooooo many times, as the house was full-to-bursting with insanity and joy and chaos and mess, I had the thought: this is what it’s all about. This, right here.
We first hosted this raucous, rowdy, rambunctious, riotous holiday event two years ago, and it was a JOY—and also, really stressful in an interesting way, because we were still getting our footing here in SA (especially post-COVID) and we were still building our community of buddies, and in that getting-to-know-you stage with so many of them!
Fast forward to the next year, and the kiddos—plus some of their friends, ha—begged to have this event again, but…we were plagued with not one, but two cancellations, due to FLU. Uuuuuuuugh.
2022:
Now in our third year of this shebang, it’s incredible to step back and take stock of how much our kiddos have grown, how much our roots have flourished here in SA, and how many friends we know and love and ENJOY for this kind of insane-in-the-membrane party.
We had a gaggle of 24 kiddos here tonight, and so much laughter and playing and rowdiness that it could probably be heard from down the street, ha.
I snapped this one pic of my crazies when the first guest had already arrived (15 minutes early!) and I don’t think I caught them all in the same place and time for the next several hours!
Side note: you can’t get a clear look, but I ADORE their selected holiday shirts this year, tehe.
The hubby—my party co-conspirator—donned his special suit for the occasion. ;)
And this year, I decided to make Christmas tree pizzas! A little extra work, but so adorable!
An army of both cookies and Capri Sun is pretty much the key to any kiddo party success, ha.
As much as it hurt last year when we had to cancel this party twice, and then pack up allllllll that hard work…it paid off this year, BIG TIME.
With my little Coda puppy “helper” to get it all back out, of course. ;)
Since she’s been with us, I haven’t busted open the plantation shutters in the dining room much, so it was the stinking cutest to see her perched there. :)
I mean…that FACE.
Truly, with as insane as it’s been with the kiddos and life and the hubby’s work, and Thanksgiving out-of-town travel, and the STINKING PUPPY…I really don’t think I would have been able to pull this off this season without the blessing of last year’s locked-and-loaded crafts.
The hubby—my party co-conspirator—donned his special suit for the occasion. ;)
And this year, I decided to make Christmas tree pizzas! A little extra work, but so adorable!
An army of both cookies and Capri Sun is pretty much the key to any kiddo party success, ha.
As much as it hurt last year when we had to cancel this party twice, and then pack up allllllll that hard work…it paid off this year, BIG TIME.
With my little Coda puppy “helper” to get it all back out, of course. ;)
Since she’s been with us, I haven’t busted open the plantation shutters in the dining room much, so it was the stinking cutest to see her perched there. :)
I mean…that FACE.
Truly, with as insane as it’s been with the kiddos and life and the hubby’s work, and Thanksgiving out-of-town travel, and the STINKING PUPPY…I really don’t think I would have been able to pull this off this season without the blessing of last year’s locked-and-loaded crafts.
Plus, unpacking it all and remembering our health challenges of last Fall/Winter, made me extra-grateful for how much better this season has been.
Even if we tank from this point forward, we are leaps and bounds better than last year!
I’m so grateful to God that I have the presence of mind during events like this to be in the moment. Sooooo many times, as the house was full-to-bursting with insanity and joy and chaos and mess, I had the thought: this is what it’s all about. This, right here.
Joy and laughter. Core memories made. Friendships enjoyed. This is why I break my body and collapse in bed prepping for and cleaning up for these events.
Tis the season, peeps, and we LIVED IT UP, tonight.
I’m sooooo grateful we were healthy enough to pull this off, and, AMEN, HALLELUJAH, to checking it off the list! Ha.
The next 48 hours are going to be pretty crazy busy, but I think it will downshift a bit after that.
HAPPY DECEMBER, peeps!
Over and out.
No comments:
Post a Comment