Holiday Open House

Laura’s Blog Entry

Hello there, blog. Just thought I would slide in an entry before 2014 slips away. So much has been demanding my attention away from writing here. Nice to be able to at least drop in.

Since it is holiday season I thought I would share about a holiday open house we had last year. It was our best way to celebrate the first year in our new home and share it will all our supportive friends who hadn’t gotten a chance to visit yet.

It was great fun seeing how our more open plan worked for a large group of people. There is a nice flow through the main rooms, as you can see from the photos below,  and very different from how our old house was laid out. Ah the difference in lifestyle from 1935 to 1948. Modern living had arrived!

We set up a buffet as we often do on our antique ledger table.

I decided that unless I simplified the food, I would never have this party. So I made it easy by doing a few simple appetizers combined with some hot appetizers (Not pictured. Those came out later when the guests were here.) that I bought from the freezer section of Trader Joe’s. Yep. Not afraid to admit it. And they went over pretty well, so there. Best decision I ever made.

Neil made the awesome “chalkboard” labels for all the food. He’s so talented.

See? Simple!

We set up a bar in the kitchen.

A cider station and a beer and wine (and bourbon!) area. For once I was glad to have that second sink in my relatively small kitchen.

Finally, I did a cookie bar with some sweets, provided by the cookie aisle at Trader Joe’s.

Parties can be stressful. This made it so much easier, but also delicious!

Hope your holiday is filled with joy and entertaining doesn’t turn you into a crazy person! Cheers!