2022 Christmas and Surprise Party Recap

 Christmas 2022 has been put to bed *dusts hands* and now I am in recovery mode.

As much as I love Christmas, this year I'm kind of glad it's behind me.  This year, for some reason, I was frazzled, disorganized and felt frantic every single day since Thanksgiving; which is not the way I want to feel for the entire run up to the big event.

But, that's just how it was this year.  What are you gonna do?  Learn from it, I suppose.

Despite my panic, it all turned out fine and was lovely.  As it usually does.

So, now that you know that; let's turn to the few things that worked for me this year.

Freezing cookie dough.  This was a HUGE time-saver for me and something that I will definitely be doing again next year.  In fact, I will probably freeze even more dough next year.  Although, I don't think the spritz cookies would do that well.  So, I'm thinking I will make a batch soon, freeze it and see what happens.  Either it won't work or it will.  We'll see.

Amazon.  I know.  But here's the deal, buying most of the gifts from Amazon meant that they all showed up on time.  Even better?  The few things that I had to return?  So easy.  And only one (non-existent) line to stand in.  That kind of convenience makes it worth it for me.  I HATE returning things on a normal day.  Returning things after Christmas?  I don't even want to think about it.  On Wednesday, I popped into The UPS Store with the items (unboxed), showed them the UPC code and walked out the door in under five minutes.  Again, convenience - worth it.

The other thing that I think I knocked out of the park was this gift...

Not their names, obviously.
But maybe future blog names?

I was so happy with how this gift turned out.  Not an plug/ad in any way, shape or form.  If I remember correctly, I bought this from Wedding Tree Guestbook on Etsy.  They had many beautiful items and the shipping was free and quick.

Turning from Christmas and onto the surprise party for my friend two doors down.  In a nutshell, we missed it completely.  

I was gutted.  Around 8:30 pm on Wednesday evening, I got a text from her husband; while I was sitting on the couch, in my pajamas, watching a movie with The Husband.

The text said, "We are upstairs."  And instantly, I knew.  For whatever reason, I had thought the party was on Thursday; which I thought was odd since her birthday was on the 28th.  I was SO convinced that I had even sent him a text on Monday night to confirm what time we should be there on Thursday.  He responded with 7:00 pm.  No mention of Wednesday (not that we are blaming him - this is all on me).   I was so upset and when The Husband absolutely refused to entertain the idea of getting dressed and heading over to at least make an appearance, I immediately (and unfairly) transferred my irritation with myself to him.  It was not a happy evening in this house, let me tell you.

Although, she tells me it's okay and that it's fine.  It is NOT fine by me and I'm still mad at myself for this mistake.

But now it is time to face the New Year.  I look at all your posts and you are already there; but much as with Christmas this year, I'm already running behind on facing the New Year; well, I still have tomorrow to do that, I suppose.