I like to give parties. And I like to do Christmas cards.
I know there are many people out there who hate both of these things, or at least doing them. Many are happy to attend a party or receive a card though. And I am quite happy to invite them to a party and send them a card. If there were some way I could invite more people– because I have friends all over the world– to my house for parties, I would.
And I like to make a new dress when I have a party. Yes, I realize it all sounds extreme, but it’s not something I do daily or even weekly, just maybe twice a year. And through planning, as Greg will attest, the day of the party isn’t frantic at our house at all. In fact, the hardest part is right before the guests arrive and all the food is laid out, one of us has to remain in eye distance of the food because Ash will steal things off a counter, table, anywhere reachable.
Our house is typically very zen by fifteen minutes before the party starts (although there was the one party where Nestle decided to go for a swim right before the guests arrived and when she heard the doorbell, she went flying out of the pool and through the house, leaving a wrath of water on the clean floors).
I don’t exchange gifts with many people in my life now without my parents and younger sister here, however, Christmas to me isn’t about exchanging gifts anyway. It’s about something small I can do for a larger group of people and thus the party and the cards, those are my gifts to all.