The Annual Christmas Party

Nothin’ like a good Christmas party with family to get you into the holiday season!

Last night, Jay and I attended an annual Christmas party held by very close family friends of ours.

These friends, Tim & Joan, have been great friends with my parents since before I was even around, and they usually have some great parties for all of the major holidays. Growing up, I was told that I had to wait until I was an “adult” to be invited to the annual Christmas party, which is always held on the first Saturday of December. I can still remember being jealous every time my parents would attend and I would be stuck at home with a babysitter.

But for the past few years, me, Jay, and my brother have been able to attend and join in on the festivities…which always include lots of yummy food.

I spent quite a bit of time grazing at the table, chatting with my parents, and sipping on some wine before finally deciding to make myself a small plate.

Don’t let the plate picture fool you. That’s just one snapshot of some of the goods I enjoyed. If I had whipped out the camera for every single snack, appetizer, and cookie that I had, then I probably would have run out the battery. You get the idea.

I also may have found myself a new favorite wine, Riondo Pinot Grigio. It was incredible.

SO much so that I enjoyed a few glasses throughout the evening.

Of course, there were also plenty of peanut butter kisses cookies, just like last year and every other year before that. It’s a lovely tradition, isn’t it?

And in addition to the cookies, there was my favorite table of the entire party…

The Dessert Table.

Do you guys see the candy cane and tree cakes there on the ends? Well those two cakes are something that I look forward to every year.

Our friend Tim makes them and there is just something about them that I absolutely adore. The candy cane cake is actually made with a strawberry cake mix, with cherry preserves added right to the batter. It’s just amazing and it’s a treat I’m only able to enjoy once a year.

So you know what that means? I loaded up!

And then I went back for seconds.

And then Joanie did what she always does and sent us home with a little care package.

They’re so good to us!

I actually left the party feeling a lot less disgusting than I usually do, which was quite a feat. I enjoyed my treats but I didn’t go *too* overboard. Just like I planned.

*****

This morning, I’m heading out once again to meet up with my mom and Meg for a fun little trip out to Massachusetts. We’re going somewhere that I’ve never been before but I’m really, REALLY excited about it.

I’ll fill ya’ll in a bit later but for now I’ll give ya a little hint…

It snows every four minutes there.

Tagged as: cake, Christmas party, dessert, family, holidays, wine