Fifty By 50: Christmas Wrapping & Get Together (Dec.18, 2018)

The weather has been very mild and I am just loving it over here!

Work is winding down for the holidays - I have lots to do but I think we are all just anxious to get our days off started to it's hard to stay focused.

I did manage to get everything cleared off my desk by the time I headed home for lunch which felt great.

My Honey was hard at work cooking up a storm for our get together tonight.

He had lists and all kinds of stuff on the go.

What a good man he is.

After lunch we headed to the conference room for a wrapping party.

We got everything sorted out then got to wrapping.

We found some Christmas music to listen to so it would feel more festive and we got to work.

I brought my phone in with me so I could take lots of pictures but completely forgot once we started wrapping.

There was SV, SG, BH, JRA, BN and myself and with all those wrappers, we were done pretty quickly even though we had 43 gifts to wrap.

Then we loaded up BN's truck - he's going to drop it off to the church for us tonight as the rest of us are going to be busy.

I am having my friends over for our annual get together and SG is going to help out at the Skate-a-thon we are having here in town to help a local family who is battling cancer.

Just so happens that it's the brother of the family we put the Color Run on for earlier this year.

Some families have to endure so much and it hardly seems fair.

I would have liked to attend but just didn't have the time but I made sure to get a donation in to them at least.

The turnout was great for a small town like ours and right before Christmas too so that was wonderful.

Initial tally's have the grand total raised right around $22,000.00

So awesome.

I left work a bit early so I could get home and help My Honey out.

I got some cleaning and vacuuming out of the way as soon as I got home, got some candles lit for ambience (and aroma) then I got to work helping him in the kitchen.

Again, I was so busy that I forgot to take pictures but this was the menu:

jalopeno poppers (homemade)

mini bagels and lox (homemade bagels)

mini chicken & biscuits with siracha mayo and hot honey drizzle

my famous (at least in my head) surprise dip

meat & cheese tray

meatballs

lemon posset

mini raspberry shortcakes on homemade biscuits

croissant bread pudding with chocolate sauce and English cream sauce.

I also had:

reindeer crack

peanuts

chips

crackers

chocolates

assorted sweets

So there was no shortage of food, that's for sure.

My son and his family were the first to arrive.

Miss H posted a few pictures of Baby F on Facebook today.

She is growing so fast - her little personality is coming out.

I commented that I missed her because it's been awhile since I've seen her.

So Miss H said they would try to get over for a visit and I was so happy they did.

NCT arrived next then SV & her hubby.
NCT's hubby works away in camp and was at work so couldn't attend.

Then BH and her hubby arrived.
It was just in time because we just were finishing up the dishes so it was perfect timing.

We all sat to the table immediately and started eating.

Mom came up and joined us as well.

I held Baby F and chatted while everyone ate.

I think they all enjoyed it.

My Honey is such a great cook - I hope one day we are able to get a barn up and running where we can do functions so he is able to do more of what he loves.

He took a turn holding Baby F too so I could have a bite to eat.

After everyone was so stuffed that they couldn't have another bite, we moved to the living room to do our gift exchange.

The rule was that we were going to buy each other ornaments but of course that isn't how it went.

I got each of the girls one of these blingy trees when I was in Portland last Christmas.

Then I got them each a starfish painted like a Santa when I was in PEI.

I also got them each a stuffed deer head ornament intending them to be more for their hubbies.

NCT got me a couple cute little ornaments and this gorgeous pillow that I love.

BH got me a couple of cute little ornaments too.

This one lights up

This one is an ode to my love of NYC.

She also brought me this whitewashed start that she made and I love it.

I guess it's quite obvious how I feel about NYC because SV got me this great print.

I think I'm going to hang it in my office.

She also got me a set of little nutcracker ornaments and they match my color scheme for this year perfectly.

So the rules of the exchange weren't really adhered to (which was fine) but I already told them I'm going rogue next year and just buying whatever I want!!!

We put Baby F in the bumble chair that BH had given me.

She didn't really seem to like it though and was kind of struggling to get out.

It was a lot of fun anyway - it's one of my favorite nights of the year.

After we exchanged gifts and gave our bellies a bit of a break - we were back to the table for a few more munchies.

It was just after 9 when we decided to call it a night.

We all had to work in the morning.

The get together was a success!

Mom had everything cleared off the table by the time I had finished saying my good byes to the guests.

She is just so helpful

She's been wrapping my gifts for me which is taking a huge load of worry off for me.

Actually when I got home, she came up and said "Need food".

We kind of laughed about it but really she's just been down there wrapping non-stop and I appreciate it so much!

Mom went down to bed and My Honey and I finished cleaning up.

I'm not a big stickler for having the dishes done by a certain time and have been known to go to bed with dishes in the sink but I must admit that it does feel really great to get everything spic and span and go to bed knowing you are going to get up to a clean kitchen.

My Honey played his new computer game he bought for a little bit and I played on my new tablet before we headed off to bed ourselves.