Christmas with the girls

Last Saturday evening was the annual get together of our group.  We have had our group for about 34 years or so.   The Christmas party is always so much fun.    Each of us takes a "job" so that the hostess doesn't have to stress out about planning the whole party.  

This year our hostess was Cathi.   She had her front porch all decked out and it looked absolutely darling.

We started the evening with some yummy drinks.  Cathi whipped up these pomegranate margaritas.   I had never had one before but loved it.   She also put out the obligatory candy!  Can't have a party without the M&M's.

The table was set so cute.   She had these cute snowmen at each place setting.  

She also made each of us the snow globe next to Mrs Santa. Yep, we each got to take ours home!

She saw this idea using canning jars on Pinterest and it looked darling next to the window.   Love the reflection.

 I didn't get a picture of dinner.  Janet and I were in charge.  Since both of us live out of town, we hit up the local Panda Express and let them do the cooking.  That orange chicken sure was good!


Marsha was in charge of games and our first one was a Christmas crossword puzzle.   Not to brag or anything, but I won!   Woo Hoo.    My prize was a darling little snowman.

Then it was on to "Flake".   Janet made these darling boards up for us quite a few years ago.   It's such a hit that we bring it back every year.   Based on Bingo, the squares all have a sticker of a snowman.  The caller has a stack of cards with the same snowman on it.   It gets really funny listening to her try to describe each snowman to us (especially after a few of those yummy margaritas).  

We also played Charades, but I didn't get any pictures because I was too competitive to pick up my camera!  Hehe  (That's actually an inside joke...right ladies?)

We always do a gift for everyone.   In years past, it was a homemade something, but as we've gotten older and wiser, some of us choose to buy rather than make. We've mellowed through the years.  

Marsha made us all these cute quilted mats.  

Janet whipped up these adorable little wool snowman pillows.

Cathi gave us all a garden flag and a calendar.  Funny part of that gift is that she ordered the calendars but never opened the box until she was ready to wrap them.   Much to her surprise, they weren't what she ordered.   We all got a good laugh out of that one.    The company is sending her what she ordered and told her to donate the wrong ones.    Murphy's Law at it's best!

I made everyone these wool Santas and framed them up.  

Patty got each of us these neat boxes and the bottle brush tree to sit on top.  She also hunted far and wide for the old fashion tinsel that we all used to "throw" on the tree.    She found something a bit more "modern" but not like the good ol stuff!  See it coming out of the bottom drawer?

That was just the start of the evening   (well we were maybe at 10pm by now).   I'll share the rest of the evening in the next post.  

Hugs, Anne