10 years of Christmas!

I didn't take many photos at our Christmas party and I didn't want to do my usual of posting a photo of the cake. For the last ten years I have been hosting a Christmas party (8 of them with The Boy). It began as a small gathering of friends, 12 people and Christmas Dinner. The following year, full Christmas Dinner for 24 people. After that I decided a pot luck dinner in future was the best option. We have secret santa for a random price, good food, good drink and good company.

This year I realised we had grown up. In the early years the kitchen would be filled with empties, various spirits and brightly coloured cocktails, a sticky floor and a horrible mess to clean up with a horrible hangover the next day (after finally getting people to leave in the early hours of the morning). This year there was wine, beers, port and whisky, everyone had left by a few minutes to midnight and before 1am the house was vaguely presentable again, no next day hangover or mess from hell.

When we planned the party, we didn't know what would happen a few days before. Neither of us had slept, we were both stressed, exhausted and not in the mood for a party but we weren't going to cancel. How shattered we looked may have helped clear the house early but I did manage to muster a smile for the camera.