Hat Parties & Gift Exchanges

Have I mentioned I loooooooove the holidays? I'm one of those people who has all their shopping done before Thanksgiving, if not just a few days after. I find gifts throughout the year and just put them on hold in my hall closet. You might call me a hoarder. Anyhow, I did a gift exchange the other night with 2 of my besties: the di Bagno sisters. They had never experienced my cooking and were excited to try out some of the things they've ready about on my blawg (AHEM BRITTANY O'BRIEN TAKE NOTE) so I decided to have them over to my place since they just had their super fun party last Friday: their (now annual) Crazy Hat Holiday Party. Here are a few photos from last Friday:

 I clearly was not invited to the cake party.

 

A headband with a hat on it counts, right?

As always, it was good to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in a while. Saturday was lights in the heights, but I have no photos, so you'll just have to trust me that it was neat. It was definitely scaled back this year though. 

So fast forward to Tuesday night, when Alex and Bella came to my place for food and fun. I made a 3 course meal, unfortunately only taking a photo of my awesome cheese plate before I devoured half the Brie...stuffed mushrooms (it's an addiction), cracker and cheddar crusted chicken, roasted potatoes and chocolate raisins (and 3 bottles of wine) rounded out the meal. Behold, the cheese. 

Holy Cheese-us

What was the best part of the night? (Besides the awesome presents, of course). Juan has officially began embracing his weirdness! I'm nervous that he has stolen this photo from a previous blog of mine, but he actually promotes his window displays now, and gives suggested times for viewing! LOVE IT!

For the record, it's his "official" invitation. You can't make this stuff up. 

Anyone want to come to my place and do a viewing? I'll supply the wine (and the stuffed mushrooms)