lighten my mood.

My girlfriends and I held our final dinner party night of the year. Alicia and Karen are heading off to study abroad again, so I expected the night to be bittersweet.  It was only sweet, but I'm thinking that their leaving will start to sink in later. Right now I'm just trying to be thankful for all the good and "same" in my life currently. There are enough changes around the corner anyway. 

The night could of not been more perfect. I know I say that on here all the time, but this time... really it was. I made tomatoes stuffed with a mixture of ricotta cheese, fresh green onions, pine nuts, and parsley. They were mild and delicious. Karen roasted potatoes and make a divine salad with Martha's Vinyard dressing. I am now obsessed with said dressing. 

Who doesn't like a December dinner party with a little gift exchange? I had fun wrapping that wood wick candle-

 

The vanilla candle went to Katie and here's Karen's prettily wrapped treat- After I finished tying the ribbon on my gift before we ate, Karen and I were chatting away about re-using wrapping paper and ribbon. I mentioned that I just used a fabric scrap and items from my scrapbooking stash, and Kate piped in- "well I think you'd wrap a gift in fabric anyway. That's just how you'd have it." I think she knows me too well!

Later when it came time to choose, (we picked numbers and then picked gifts) Katie said, "I'm going with the Katie Harris gift wrapped in toile." Again, these ladies know me well! Can you believe that fabric is from making matching mother-daughter aprons with mom from three summers ago? Glad I save stuff :)

Here is what I chose- Isn't that the prettiest mug? I love the red inside and reindeer print. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but this stuff smells so good. I'm sure I will be able to use is it one bleak morning (six am is so ugly in the MN tundra).

A few more highlights include:

•Creative friends who make homemade chocolate covered peanuts

•Becky's adorable earmuffs that made me smile

•Passing around a sheet of freshly baked sugar cookies

•Talking about the craziest things and every topic

•Laughing so loud

•Oh Day Aki (har har har)

•Katie's winter uniform: black cashmere 

•Gibson getting so much attention from his "aunties"

•Realizing that tomorrow is my "Friday" (Praise the Lord!)

Comments

[teresa]

sweet get together - fabulous table- thanks for sharing- Hope you have a wonderful Christmas

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