Last weeeeekend (sung in the tune of Last Christmas …)

Woooo girl, last weekend was JAM. PACKED. SO much fun and non stop go-go-go type energy. I rarely have days/weekends like this so having something like this once in awhile is fun. I will say, though, after it was all over I WAS TIRED. Like, sore body, dead beat, deep sleep, exhausted 😂I think I’m just getting old TBH.

So what did I do last weekend that had me like this? Well, to start off one of my dearest friends in the world, A, and her family (husband, two kids) came and stayed with us for a few days (Friday-Monay). Then, it was my turn to host our friend group’s annual Christmas party . So, two big things colliding over just a few short days. I simultaneously have a lot of pictures and no pictures … because that’s how life works 💀

friday

Friday was a big day! My friend was arriving with her family in the afternoon so I took the time to get the house ready and also make one last Target run (for the Christmas party, not necessarily for my friend’s family). This is what happens when I go stress-shop at Target during one of my favorite times of the year. I think I went to Target for 3 things and ended up with this entire cart.

Our friends arrived, hung out for a bit, and then they had dinner plans with other friends and our kids had AWANA. It is getting SO cold here in the Bay Area! I laughed so hard when I looked over at D and saw how bundled up he was for AWANA (part of it is outdoors).

Then Friday night, the kids were all tiny balls of excitement and even though we tried to get everyone to sleep around 10pm, there were definitely giggles and whispers lasting until midnight.

Meanwhile, the adults were gathered together in the kitchen and unsuccessfully trying for HOURS to make the dalgona candy from Netflix’s Squid Game (IYKYK).

Not gonna lie, it was a slightly frustrating process. The husbands were the ones mainly working on it and trying different ratios of baking soda to sugar. We couldn’t get the shapes molded into the candy the right way and were on the verge of giving up but then … AHA, had a revelation and tried a different kind of sugar before everything started clicking.

saturday

Saturday we woke up bright early because of the kids and dogs … breakfast was at home all together. Hubby made bacon for everyone and we collectively got the backyard ready for the Christmas party. Are you ready for some photo spam because it’s coming 🙃

I actually DIDN’T get any photos of our catered “taco truck” and I’m so kicking myself for it. We used a great local guy that we’ve catered from before but he basically sets up a whole station wherever you want and makes-to-order burritos, quesadillas, and tacos. He even has all the fixings – it’s SO good! We fed the kids first so they could run around and be out of our hair.

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Not only did they run around, but I also had a gingerbread house/cookie decorating station out so that they could have an activity to get creative with.

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We ate, chilled, hung out … and then the kids had a Secret Santa gift exchange. We’ve been holding annual Christmas parties with pretty much this same group of friends since 2009 and in the beginning, it was a kids’ White Elephant but … we learned quickly that when one family brings a set of blocks their toddler has outgrown and a 4th grade girl ends up with them, tears will ensue. So we switched to a Secret Santa system after and I’m happy to say that this year there were only tears of joy and shouts of excitement 😉

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They also pulled out this random branch from somewhere deep in the woods our backyard and made a little Charlie Brown-esque tree from the trash (🤦🏻‍♀️) in our yard, including some long forgotten Easter eggs/candy HAHAHA.

SANTA also came and paid a visit!! (Psst: Santa is usually the dad/husband of the host family LOL.) He passed out party favors that we had prepared and I could tell little A was super confused because she definitely believes in Santa but … that was also definitely her dad in the Santa suit hahhaha.

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But don’t get it twisted, there was TONS of fun for the adults too! We played the dalgona game from Squid Game that I talked about working on Friday night. The 1st place prize was an Amazon gift card and 2nd place was some chocolates.

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And had White Elephant for the grown ups… there was a LOT of forming alliances happening, which always makes the game more fun 😂

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Someone even brought their Oculus!! I’d never tried it before so everyone (all the adults) got a turn if they wanted to try … and it was way more fun than I was expecting it to be!

We laughed, ate, talked, had pie and generally just enjoyed each other’s company until it started getting cold and the sun was starting to set. Then most people called it a day and headed out. Another successful Christmas party in the books!

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Our group, especially the number of kids, has grown SO much since 2009. Here are some other random years we’ve had the party in the past:

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After the official party, a good number of people stuck around for what I guess was an impromptu after party 😂 I’m so thankful we’d just done a Costco run and because my friend’s family was staying with us we already knew there’d at least be one family having dinner with us. The after party went until… 9? 10? Felt late! But time flies when you’re having fun and eating good food.

sunday

Sunday we all woke up around 9 (minus a quick pee break around 7 for the puppy) and it still felt like not enough sleep, we were ALL so tired! Kids and adults included! One of the kiddos woke up feeling not so great (sore throat) so we streamed church service from home and just in general bummed around at home for most of the day. We DoorDashed pho for lunch and then for dinner all went to another friend’s house for more pizza and hanging out. It was basically an entire weekend of non stop interaction with our friends.

After dinner, we came home and got the kids all showered and ready to read our advent story.

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monday

And then it was Monday and time to return to reality! School for my kids, heading home for my friend and her family. There were hugs given and tears from little A when she got home at the end of the day and realized nobody except her family was there. It was a full weekend and I had the BEST time. Of course, the past couple days I’ve been recharging my batteries (almost back to feeling like myself heh) but it was worth it for all the great memories we made together.

GUYS! Only 9 more days until Christmas!! Are you guys ready!? Tell me what else you have left to do in the comments! I’ve been pretty much ready with all the Christmas things since November but still have to wrap some gifts and also am scrambling to soak up as much of this season as I can. I don’t like to celebrate Christmas after the 25th so it does feel a little bit like Cinderella with her pumpkin carriage … next week, all the magic will be gone.

Coming up the rest of this month, I have my monthly What’s Up Wednesday and Dec Reads posts planned…. and I was hoping to do a What I Got My Kids for Christmas post but not sure if that’s something you’d be interested in reading this late in the season? Let me know!