I used to throw a lot of parties, but I've now narrowed it down to one, the first or second Sunday in December, depending on how the week falls (for example, if the first Sunday is December first, second, or third, I'm likely to go for the second, for some breathing time after Thanksgiving).
I used to call it a tree-trimming party, and it was great fun. I've used everything from the traditional tree, to potted Norfolk Island pines, to Rosemary topiaries, depending upon where we lived. Last year we just couldn't handle a real tree any more, so bought a 1/4 tree ... corner tree ... so that we wouldn't have to move furniture. As such, I don't call it a tree trimming party any more.
The past two years we had really, and I mean very seriously, bad weather for the party. My husband is always concerned with RSVPs. For me, once I know 15-20 are going to come, I'm OK with it. He laughs at me; I joke that we can invite 20, 40 will show up, we can invite 75, 40 will show up. He rolls his eyes at this, but then counts up who came the next morning, and finds it is always in that ballpark.
About 15 or so years ago, I started asking people to bring something for a local food bank or church (depending upon where I lived). I used to try to make all the food myself, but I found that people were bringing stuff to share anyway, so now I just make a big pot of Cincinnati chili and provide styrofoam mugs or bowls and the various traditional toppings, leaving it on my "crockpot" burner on the stove in the kitchen and having folk help themselves.
Then my guests load up the dining room, table and sideboard, with "finger food" ... anything from cookies to crackers and cheese to elegant hors d'ouevres (oh, gee, I forgot how to spell that!). My husband makes huge batches of his special eggnog, and we have lots of beer & wine. Our friends know we don't keep a full bar, so if anyone has something they can't party without, they know to bring it (in other words, I buy cheap wine, but wine snobs can bring their own; we don't put out much in the way of hard booze, but people can bring in a bottle, and I make a point of making sure I have whatever non-drinkers like ... you can't cover all bases, but I try).
So, that's my big deal this upcoming week. I'm seriously hoping for reasonable weather. The past two years we had (1) an ice storm and (2) a blizzard. Ironically, it didn't stop very many people (it would have stopped me, had I been a guest, I mean it was terrible and it stopped no one). I have the tree trimmed, and bought a new creche (OK, accent is missing) for the mantle. The casement windows are decorated, and since my husband decided the dining room would be painted coral, I bought a new table cloth (red looks weird, thank heaven for cheapo places, I found a dark green one that looks ok for $9!). I cut way down on decorating years ago, and minimal (in other words, not tons of lights) goes well in a 150+ year old house. So, I'm almost ready!
