Is Your House On Fire, Clark??

If you're reading this blog, chances are you know what avid Christmas fans Drew & I are. That being said...we decided to host a mid-winter Christmas party last weekend! Now I'm sure you're thinking 'Katie...how on earth did you and Drew host a party in your tiny apartment and isn't mid-winter Christmas kind of redundant??' Thank you for asking. First, our good friend Jessica who has an awesome 4-bedroom house offered to have the event at her house and it was the perfect setting. Hopefully next year, we'll be able to host it in our new apartment--wooo hooo! Second, while half of the world enjoys Christmas midway through the actual winter season, us down here in the southern hemisphere wear flip flops and shorts on Christmas. Even though June 25th was the exact 6-month mark to Christmas, we wanted to find a date that worked for all of our friends, but it was cool and crisp out and it felt like a mild winter's day back in the States.

We got to decorate Jessica's house with a few decorations and Drew & I went over earlier in the day to get some homemade apple cider started...which, of course, made the whole house smell like Christmas! It was seriously the easiest thing ever and tasted heavenly. Here's the recipe if you want to try (note: I did add some cinnamon stick in which made it that much better!)





Everyone was asked to wear something Christmas-y and bring a Christmas treat to share! We had an awesome turnout of about 25 people and so much food that we were sending stuff home with everyone....







 







In case you're wondering what wonderful deliciousness we got to enjoy, there was....homemade chili, chicken chili, lasagna, buffalo chicken dip, sausage balls, veggies and dip, cheeses, sausage rolls (a very Kiwi/Aussie snack), puppy chow, Christmas cookies, mulled wine and of course the apple cider!



                       

After everyone was relatively stuffed, we all settled in for a long winter's....movie. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...duh! Drew was overly pleased with the movie selection and he, like the rest of the group, enjoyed every moment of a well-loved Christmas tradition.

One of our newer friends, Kristen, was sweet enough to make party favors for each couple--an adorable rosemary Christmas tree to take home!

Even though we're still 5 months away from Christmas, this was a wonderful evening with wonderful friends celebrating the most wonderful time of the year!!

Cheers,