Hostess Gifts & Holiday Traditions

This is the view of the entry way. The banister was adorned with fresh garland and multi-colored mini lights. I'm going to have to get out the manual for my digital camera so I can take pictures of the outdoor lights and the tree. I can't get the lights at dark to show up. Will work on it. The party was wonderful! I had a great time. I wore the green sheath dress - without an apron. I made 70 or so meatballs and put them in a crockpot with bottled sweet & sour sauce to which I added a can of pineapple chucks, with the juice and one chopped green bell pepper. I also had a crockpot full of "little smokies" in BBQ sauce. We had a beautiful tray with crackers with a bowl of spinach artichoke dip in the middle. A huge platter of ham, salami, Havarti & cheddar. A bowl of cooked shrimp on ice with a side of cocktail sauce. 20 mini quiches - courtesy of Costco. They were very good and the perfect bite size. One of the guests brought crackers and a homemade salmon ball. Very good :)

On the kitchen table was a box of chocolate cookies that I picked up also at Costco. I was worried there wouldn't be enough food! I was almost right. Also there were a couple bowls of mixed nuts, a box of chocolates that was brought as a hostess gift and the cheesecakes made by JB. I was quite disappointed, when I went to set up the candles for the dining room table I found that all the candles I bought at Michael's last week didn't make it home with me. Bummer! We called, but they claim not to have found them. I'm disappointed - but was able to punt. I have lots of candles! In fact, due to the wind storm we had on Thursday night several of our guests were without power. I got compliments for having candles in every room of the house - just in case :) On to hostess gifts - I was given a box of "Pot of Gold" chocolates, a box of Godiva chocolates, and a box of Russel Stover's chocolates, a bottle of wine and a plant. I let the 8YO at the party open the Pot of Gold - it's mostly gone and I'm happy. This morning our mailman rang the bell as he had a box for us - too big for the mailbox. I gave him the box of Russel Stover Chocolates and wished him a happy holiday season :) I will be taking the Godiva and regifting it to the hostess at the party we are attending tonight. {It's okay, nobody at the party reads this blog.}

What traditions do you have in your family? We have a couple - some created for our blended family after JB and I got married and some started when I had kids. This is one of my favorites. Every year since The Musical One was born both my mother and my sister send an ornament to my kids. Generally the ornaments match each other. Some years they are handmade, some years bought. I love these ornaments. These are the two that my sister sent for the girls this year -

they were in the box the mailman delivered :)

What's really great about this year's ornaments is just last night The Princess said to me that she wanted to start collecting snowman ornaments for her personal tree :0] How appropriate are these? She will be getting the tall one in her stocking.

I did purchase a few ornaments for her this year, but they weren't snowman - next year I'll know to be on the lookout for the fluffy white guys.