a weekend of parties

Last weekend was an unprecendented weekend of parties.  For a brief day of insanity there were 4 planned - 3 to attend, one to throw.   We got wise and declined one and then the weather declined another (sadly, it was our niece's birthday...).

So last weekend panned out to be the weekend of a Christmas costume party (themed around The Grinch) and our "We made it!" party to celebrate our family's journey through anesthesia school and thank those who saw us through.

Trish and Brock throw an annual Christmas party based on a holiday movie.  Costumes are required- at least that is our understanding and we take it seriously.  They skipped last year's party when they were moving into their house and we were psyched for the comeback!  

When they announced The Grinch as the movie, we jumped at the chance to be Who's from Whoville.  We ordered wigs on Amazon and hit Goodwill.  

The girls were really intrigued by my wig.

With Kristi's help an hour before the party we "Whoed" up my hair.  Sandi was Cindy Lou Who (her wig came all rigged up) so she went in a pink nightgown, bathrobe and slippers. I bought a tree skirt and some netting to put underneath it for poof.  I had crazy pointy toe heels and fuzzy green and white leg warmers just to be as eccentric as possible.  (And in an act of recycling that made me very happy, our Christmas tree is sporting a new red and gold tree skirt.)

I confess, I've always wondered what it would be like to be a red-head.  (I couldn't help myself here.)

Not only was there Who roast beast, Who pudding AND Who hash, but Trish and Brock did not disappoint on the game front.  They concocted this elaborate game based on movie trivia (made even more interesting by the Suess-inspired "Board of Chancy Choosy Flippy Fluckery" which might earn your team bonus points or allow another team to switch points with you).  It is a high- energy, competitive, no-holds-barred game where you may be asked to make a fool of yourself but you gladly do so for the victory of your team.

It would be hard to calculate the amount of fun had.

The whole crew:

 Then on Saturday we headed down to Coespace in Bangor for our party.  I tried to go the easy route here with a renting space and attempting to hire a caterer but when I realized the extent of the cost for food I could make myself, I couldn't do it.  So I worked ahead and made a variety of appetizers with enough of each to feed 50-60 people.  My freezer was full of spanikopita, carrot pate, mini quiche and puffed pastry goodies.

It is hard to give up making the food when you are really a caterer/baker at heart.

While we set up for the party the kids had a live window display for the enjoyment of the people of Bangor.

Our friends Maria and Jeanine had made this really cool sign for us and sent it to us in the mail when we came home from graduation.  It just so happened that it fit the entire length of the food table.


My labor of love: a  We Made It!/Happy Birthday Kristi and Matt cake.

 We have so many people who have helped us on the journey, without whom we could not have gotten to where we are.  They are certainly not all pictured here (the flash was acting up) but we hope they felt the love and gratitude we have for them and we hope they know how much their contributions to our lives mean.