A Christmas Memory: Day Sixteen - Other Peoples' Parties

It was actually last year that Pat and I decided to not have a Christmas party. Time and money were issues and, besides, I was tired and didn't want to do all that cooking.

But then an interesting thing happened.

Hunter was turning 30 and his plans got cancelled by a trick of fate.

Jane was having a birthday (the number, I forget) and wanted, for the first time, to have friends see her home.

Allan wanted to give Jennifer a surprise birthday party.

And I am the go-to guy, as well as the party giver.

So I spent the holiday throwing my friends' parties.

I went up to Jane's house and helped her clean and move furniture around, to make it party-able. I helped her draw up a menu of good party foods to serve and I did some shopping and food prep for her. I didn't do it all because it is important that the party-giver feel a sense of accomplishment when they stand in their living room and look at what they did. I did just enough to make it easy on Jane; enough to make it so that she didn't feel stressed, tired or overworked during her birthday bash. And, dudes, it made me so happy to see how happy she was, how loved she was, how glad her friends were that she was born. Success!!

I worked on some delish cakes and food for Hunter's clambake and, the day off, he tidied up his (already!) tidy home and made it party ready. Just before, I showed up with the food and I kept the plates and trays full and stood back, in the kitchen, watching the SHOWER of love on my best friend. It made me way happy (and, a year later, for Christmas, I was given a job by two lovely people I met at that party!) Success!!

Allan did most of the work for Jennifer's party. He did the invites and he stashed food and drink around their home and he got me a set of keys. All I had to do was show up, set up and let everyone in. IN A SNOWSTORM. That's right. It was one of those New York snowstorms. And it made the entire evening divine. Jen was wildly surprised, the guests were happy and Allan was beaming. Success!!

I loved that Christmas. I loved those parties. I felt like it was one of the best holidays ever.