2017.17 Worth their weight in spiced gumdrops

It is December the 23^rd and while I have completed most of my Christmas shopping (and that is a tale unto itself). I am woefully behind on my Christmas blogging.  Matthew and I taped at least 4 day drinking and crafting videos, but you have only seen one.  Why is that? Well the free software that I used to edit the thing only lets me upload one video.  So although I have edited the second one, I can’t post in anywhere, so I am looking at what my options are.  Also, as I understand it, many people couldn’t watch it on their phones, so I may need to break it apart and blog a series of clips.  So there is that.

But here and now? I am posting the party pics I got from Katie Powell.  In years past I have asked my Paul’s “best friend from his whole life” Katie Powell to take party pictures because #1 she is really good at it, and B) she accepts payment in spiced gumdrops.  This last summer when she took Paul’s senior pictures that I haven’t done anything with, I told her about this article I read where a SUPER EXTRA person hired an artist to do tiny watercolors of her wedding reception guests instead of photographs and I suggested that at some point in Katie’s artistic career we could look forward to that.  Sometimes she looks at me like she is afraid to say what she really thinks.  This was one of those times.

This year I did not ask Katie in advance to take pictures or miniature watercolors because I know, busy college student, whole life going on, maybe too cool for the party blah blah blah.  But when she mentioned that she did have her camera in the car… How could I resist that opportunity to exploit?  In any case here are some of my favorite pictures that Katie took at the party. 

Mama Kat about to go off,,,

I wonder where Mama Kat gets it? ;-)

somethings defy explanation

see? who can explain?

Baby Scott and Whitney

Najah and Ciela! So very perfect.

Yeah for the Swinneys!

I winder what Larry said to Sandy?

Kathleen and Cathy have been friends since before God invented water.

Yeah for Donna getting Bo and Larry out of the Civic Center in time for the party!

Amy and Baby Thor!

Silly Games!

Day Fourteen 2016

Party Menu in review

Best part of the party menu? Party leftovers!

Party recap part one.

This year’s party is over, done with, and on the books. It certainly goes down as a memorable one.

Ordinarily I say don’t reveal what the plan was, only what the results were, focus on what went right, not what didn’t get done. I am making an exception tonight only because so many things fell short of the goal. Sigh.

So I was an hour late to the party, for starters. After setting up, (for HOURS longer than anticipated) the boys and I went home to get Kat, then to Nolen & Elisa’s to get food, then drop everyone off at the venue. Then I took Matthew and his friend Brittney to collect his friend Romeo and get the eggnog. That is when I realized that I had left the punch ladles at home. I had to stop at the store and purchase soup ladles to serve beverages with.  In the mean time, Kat made the punch wrong (totally not her fault).

Also, we had no ice. Who has a party without ice?  The white wine wasn’t chilled.  We forgot the champagne.  Even though the dessert table was lovely with the silver serving platters and bowls, Kat felt it was bare in comparison to the savory tables. 

I forgot, again, to take pictures of the centerpieces, but luckily Katie Powell remembered and did an amazing job.  But I forget to get a family picture, or at the least a picture with Kat. Sigh.

So, with all that went wrong, how was the party?

Kathleen says that Christmas doesn’t begin for her until the party.  What I learned this year is that, like Christmas, it is going to come anyway. It will come without chocolate covered pretzels; it will come without pictures, without ladles, without ice, without champagne. It came without ribbons, It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags…Then I thought of something I hadn't before. What if Christmas… doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

Day 19. Party Review

After the party, because why would we think to take a picture BEFORE the party?

It seems odd to post the party review as the blog entry for the 19^th day when the party was on the 20^th  but you need to over look that if I am going to get caught up in a timely manner.  How was the party?  Amazing stupendous fantastic seems like an apt description.

So many people showed up!  We didn’t have a guest book this year but our best count is about 82 people.  We ran out of plates and Tony Lawrence-Harjo had to run to get some, and Ashley Glover had to bring more with her when she came.  I am in their debt! 

Best thing that someone brought to eat?  Right now I think it was the gingerbread cookie bars that Summer Witt brought. ALL THE WAY FROM COLORADO!  She drove up for the party and surprised Kat and I both.  We miss our Colorado peoples and this was a nice treat.  Other out of state guests were Elizabeth & Doug Worley who drove up from Abilene Texas, and Kortney & Andrew McQuade who actually just moved back to Oklahoma this week just in time for the party.

Korney, don't tell Najah!

I did forget to take pictures of the table scape and decorations this year.  I regret that because I really likes the gingerbread house theme. The best party decoration though was the photo booth back drop.  Matthew suggested it (thanks pinterest). I wasn't sure when we were setting it up, but when I see the pictures people took I am really pleased.  

If you missed the party I am sorry that you did, because I missed seeing you there and hope to see you at some other occasion soon. Any rumors that I may have started about people who didn't show up... well lets just agree your lives are more interesting the way I tell them.

Is it too soon to start planning for next year?

Day 18. Best Party Ever

Yes I am now 5 days behind.   And yes, I am running out days even if I double up. I'll figure it out.  In the mean time here is Jodi's second post this year.  I have mixed feelings about this post because as it turns out Jodi & Tom were not able to make it after all.  Jodi was not very specific in her reasons for the last minute cancellation, but given her glowing review of the party I can only assume her cancellation was for the greater good.  Negotiating peace in the Middle East or perhaps William and Kate needed some discrete marital counseling?  Who can say?  Well Jodi could elaborate, but then she would probably have to kill me.  Not that she would actually kill anyone. She has people for that. Allegedly.

Best Party Ever 2014

You may have heard a rumour that this will be the best KinKade Christmas party since 1992.

It’s true. (Snopes hasn’t picked it up yet, but it’s only a matter of time.)

You see, 1992 was the last time I was able to attend a KinKade Christmas party.

We were all still newlyweds that year. (By “we” I mean the “They’ll Never Make It” Club – Judson & Kathleen, Eric & Stacey and Tom & Jodi. Try to keep up.) We thought we were adults, but we were really still on the cusp. Yes, we were paying bills (most of the time) and drinking wine (a lot of the time), but we also had a certain amount of freedom that resulted in things like the KinKade Christmas Party. It was a given that we would drive from Texas to Oklahoma for the fete and assumed we would make it a yearly trek.

What a difference a year makes! Christmas 1993 and we were at home with a very new baby. There was no way we were going to expose a two-week old to the germ stew of a party. (I’m sure you all practice very good hygiene, no offense intended.) No biggie, we’ll be back next year.

We went up in 1994, but a rapid succession of family tragedies kept us from, well, everything. (Three deaths in two weeks has a way of taking the party right out of people.)  I don’t even remember 1995. Seriously, like I don’t remember anything about that year. By 1996, I was expecting our second child at any time and absolutely was not going to risk having her in Oklahoma. (I did go to DisneyWorld that month. Having my baby in an “It’s a Small World” boat seemed much less repulsive than having her in Oklahoma.) Another couple of years of just “stuff happens” and suddenly we are locked in to spending all of December involved in The Nutcracker. For eternity.

Every year the invitation would arrive and I would open the calendar, full of hope that this would be the year. Every year it took about 10 seconds to realize that unless cloning and /or teleportation were involved we’d never make it.

Each year became a little harder to bear.                                                       

It’s not like I didn’t see my friends. It’s not like we didn’t attend any Christmas parties at all. But no other parties could match the magic of a KinKade party. It wasn’t because they are excellent party planners (they are), but because their party is a product of the heart. There is a not insubstantial amount of time and money involved, but that is brushed aside because the KinKades want to bring a little joy to their friends. That’s the difference between A party and THE party.

Twenty-two years after our last appearance and we are finally making it back. You know to what I am most looking forward? The feeling that they kept the party going all these years just so it would be there when I came back.

Because that is how the KinKades throw a party.

Day 15. Party Party Party

Our Party is less than a week away and once again we are less than ready.  This year we are having the party at the Fireman’s Hall, which makes it easier and also harder at the same time.  It is easier because I do not have to clean the house.  It is more difficult because I feel pressure to decorate the hall so that it looks as nice and beautifully appointed for the holidays as my home does, allegedly.  Also this year since we are asking people to bring things I don’t have the pressure of a million things to bake and/or cook to prepare, or to be more accurate, Kat doesn’t have that pressure.  However we still have a list of things, and not enough time to do it.

Not the Picture I was looking for, but still a delicious picture

This week I have several guest bloggers who will be sharing their memories of parties past, and more specifically what our Christmas party means to them.  I’ll be honest, I was a little misty when I read the blog entries.  When I recovered from my Sally Fields moment, (“They Like me!  They really like me!”) I realized that honestly I don’t spend much thought on what the party means to other people.  I really should because it has been broadcasted to me for years, Elisa was what? 8 the first time she let me know?  And yet somehow I manage to belittle our party and discount what it means to anyone other than Kat, the boys and me.

This year in addition to Jodi and Nicole blogging about the party I have received text messages from friends in Colorado who are very disappointed we have moved the party back to Oklahoma.  I still wonder how that can be since we only had 2 parties in Colorado and they were under attended, but I guess the lesson is that it is not about the quantity, it is all about the quality and Kathleen really knows how to put on a quality party.

So if you are in Oklahoma City, or you are planning on being in Oklahoma City on Saturday December 20^th and you have not received an invite, please let me know and I’ll correct that.