SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

Christmas Party & Cookie Exchange Celebration 2023 AKA: passing of the (velcro) baton

    -from the guests perspective, this party was a very fun success!  grandma sharon (my mom), having hosted for 40 years, and now  -being the guest of honor, on the receiving end of the hospitality she extended for decades

having her granddaughter accept the baton..   the two of them navigating through the way things had been done..  to the new ways things would be done..    updating the celebration to meet today's online advances..   and current generations ways and means for celebrating

all n all a great time, and grandma was very proud..     

on the following morning, when robert and i went to pick up tables/chairs we lent for the occasion, 

i passed along to my daughter all the positive feedback i had received..

justifiably tired from all the planning, organizing, decorating, baking, hostessing, cleaning...

 she just smiled

    maybe this is not for me     and i gave her a big hug.    give yourself time to recover...

she had done all this  -in addition- to work and school..

****

i laughed to myself a bit.  anyone/everyone who has ever hosted an event, from a child's birthday party, to a small dinner party, to an Easter, or Thanksgiving or Christmas gathering..

it does always include a great deal of planning, organizing, decorating, pre-clean, post-clean

a certain amount of anxiety, concern..   will everyone show?  will it work?  did i forget anything?

even when the party is small, the responsibility can be big.

     -let it all serve just to remind us, when we are a guest at a gathering, from a book club lunch, to a cocktail party, to a movie night, 

let it increase our awareness and appreciation as a guest.  let it inspire us to be grateful; and say so!

***

and imagine only very briefly, life without anyone hosting anything..

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that said, my favorite 'hostessing' story,   -is the one joyce meyer shares

            /you all know i self-describe as an A+ and honor roll student of Joyce Meyer,  -write

well anyway, 

she tells a funny,  a painfully funny story about wanting to have a few couples over to their house from church for a bbq.   hotdogs..

as the story unfolds..   she didn't want to hurt any feelings so she ended up inviting way too many people, 

then, the hot dogs did not seem like enough, ..so she decided on steak, that at the time, they could not really afford..

then the way her house looked..    so a stressful mom is now grouchy to all her children wanting to make sure the house was clean..

you get the idea

by the time the guest did show up, she didn't even want them there and couldn't wait for it to end.

****

via many trials and errors over the years..    and having made many of the same mistakes..

what a joy now!  a true joy..

to have our driveway bbq happy hours..   where we really do, just bbq hotdogs, share some beers, water, soda..    on the driveway..   and our neighbors, of their own accord, contribute a variety of delicious dishes and desserts..

it is casual, relaxed, wonderful..   we just hang out together and visit;  fellowship, i believe, as God actually intended..

****

   -we found our lane.  Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!    Hallelujah & Amen! 

posted by SANDRA HARRISON KAY @ 10:58 AM