Turn out the lights... The party's over....

The party was wonderful. This was the year for it because things came together that cheered up some friends who have been down for a good while. I have had the real fear in the last couple of years that a few more of our friends are not going to be around for very much longer. I'm not a young person, but I was the youngest at this party. Basically it boils down to health issues getting in the way of enjoying life. We have lost a lot of our friends in recent years because most of them are in our parent's generation. You really start looking at life differently when nearly everyone you are close to is a lot older than you are. Every moment is really precious, and always has been, but that point is driven home to you in a very forceful way when your group of closest friends is clearly fading away. It was so nice to be able to host the party and to take the exhausting work over from them. Being as tired as I was near the end, tired from my illness and also from getting a fairly broken down little house ready for a big party, made me appreciate our friends for doing this Christmas gathering, in rotation, year after year.

This morning my best friend called and said that she had been exhausted when she arrived but became energized by all the good fellowship. All of us have been friends for years so we mesh well. This is a group that has evolved over the years and new ones were added when older ones were no longer with us, but with exception of two couples, all are in the generation that went through the Great Depression as children. Their stories of life during that era are very similar to ones that my mother used to tell us of her family during that time.

One of the nicest things that happened last night was that two of our friends, the male half of two of the couples who came, used to work with our neighbor. None of us knew this fact but DH made the connection while our friends were all talking about their lives, and he dashed out to invite our neighbor over to meet some of his old workmates, as his name sounded very familiar to them. When he came in, they all recognized each other right away. The three of them sat and talked for quite awhile about old times until dinner was ready. These are all men in their 80's who worked in the aircraft industry here during WWII. It was a real treat to watch them realize that they really did know each other from such a long time ago. When they saw each other for the first time in decades, and their faces all lit up with recognition, it was breathtaking. It set the tone for the evening I think. Kismet! Very Sweet indeed.
We always do this party potluck style so I made a pan of lasagna from Creamette's new recipe on the back of their lasagna noodle box. The recipe is one of the no cooking ones- for the noodles that is- and it was delicious. What a nice no fuss recipe it was, and very traditional tasting. One friend brought a loaf of rustic bread that she had made into garlic bread and we heated in the oven in foil, and someone else brought a Ceasar salad, without egg, and another person brought the dessert, delicious pies. Gosh, we had a great time, and I got so excited that of course I didn't sleep til 4 am. Lol. But it was worth every minute of the time getting ready.
The house looks really lovely this year and there was a new tree, which was DH's idea. He took a white outdoor tree that has all clear lights, and bought some pinkish Christmas ball ornaments which we hung on it ( All that was left out there in Shopping World was this pink. ) in two sizes, then a furry garland of iridescent materials and little silver stars that reflected many, many colors was wound round and round. It was dazzling. We didn't even put up the other tree this one was so pleasing.

PINK SOCK KNITTING REPORT: One pink sock toe is nearly finished and I am sure that they will both be off the needles by tomorrow night. One thing that held everything up was that I was half gone with exhaustion and misfigured the distance to the tip of my toe. After having done that, the next step was to carry out this mutant measurement in the rows of the sock, trying to lengthen something that didn't need any more length at all. Knitting is such good therapy for worries and woes but not when you are too tired. Nope, you just cause yourself any amount of grief.

KNITTING WHEEL UPDATE: IF Hubby gets left alone to do it, the finish coat may go on tomorrow. That means Saturday, since it's already Friday. Is it really that late!?? OMG! Anyway, as soon as I'm awake in the morning, I'll be dragging the whole thing out of the sewingroom and into the middle of the dining room floor to make sure that the wheel is in FULL VIEW!