cookies and bacon and wine oh my

Last week I decided to have a cookie decorating party at my house. I sent out an email and asked a group of friends to keep their Tuesday night open. Then I did nothing about it all week. Sunday night at 10 p.m. I started to panic a bit and started making batch after batch of cookie dough. (Who knew sugar cookie dough had to chill overnight? Or at all?)

Cookie dough: CHECK.

Monday I was fortunate to have the day off work and was joined by some amazing friends to bake all afternoon. The goal was to have the cookies dunzo for the party so we could concentrate strictly on decorating them (and drinking wine).

Finished cookies (wrapped and up high in the cabinet to keep away from little hands and doggie tongues): CHECK.

The day of the party dawned and it went something like this:

9 a.m. Drink coffee; lounge around w/ Nate in our pajamas watching Christmas movies. Take him to the park and to lunch in an attempt to exhaust him for a nap.

1 p.m. Realize nap is NOT happening, give it up and start to panic because the house is total chaos and 1o people are coming over that evening. Look with dismay at the four (that is a conservative estimate) piles of clean, unfolded laundry in my living room.

1:15 p.m. Call Karl in complete panic.

1:30 p.m. Start cleaning. When I try to sweep, Nate wants to sleep. When I try to vacuum, Nate wants to vacuum.

2:00 p.m. Deep breathing in paper bag. Secure a spray bottle of water and send Nate to the bathroom to "clean the bathtub."

4:00 p.m. Beg Karl to come home from work early b/c I need to run to Kroger and the liquor store.

4:30 p.m. Go to Kroger and become obsessed with the idea that MY HOUSE MUST SMELL LIKE CHRISTMAS. Look for christmas-scented candles. PANIC b/c I can not find any (for some reason the candles seemed like a REALLY important detail). Stomach starts hurting. Call mom on phone and she assures me that Cinnamon is most definitely a Christmas smell and that the scent of evergreen (and/or sugar cookies ala candle) makes her gag and break out in hives. Buy Cinnamon candles (among other things).

5:00 p.m. (Two hours until guests!): Hit the liquor store for some wine. Get in line behind two ladies both WRITING CHECKS for enormous bottles of Woodbridge chardonnay. Head comes dangerously close to exploding at this point.

5:30 p.m. Arrive home and hop in the shower. (Rookie mistake here; always shower early if you are hosting an event at your house; last minute details always take too long!). While in shower, hear incessant doorbell ringing. (Left my door wide open and Karl (bless him) took Nate to Playtime Pizza). Think it's my friend Kristen coming early to help me set up but wondering why she doesn't just COME IN ALREADY. Think maybe I locked the screen door. Rinse shampoo out of hair and run to the door in towel. Realize it is my father in law NOT my friend. Run back and put some pajamas on. (Not awkward at all!) (He was dropping something off for Karl.)

5:45 Put on a dress. Look in mirror. Hair is sopping wet; legs not, ahem, quite in dress condition. Curse aloud and with feeling. Decide jeans and flip flops are a better option. Sigh, throw wet hair in ponytail and call it good.

6:00 Light candles and start making dip. Realize dip has bacon in it and THAT HOUSE WILL NOT SMELL LIKE CHRISTMAS IT WILL SMELL LIKE BACON. Curse aloud and with (possibly excessive) feeling. Make bacon anyway (because bacon cheese dip is WORTH IT). Open all windows and turn on attic fan (because it was 70 degrees yesterday!).

6:30 Kristen arrives and (after a brief assessment) immediately opens the wine and pours me an enormous glass. I can't get the tree lit (why was the plug wrapped around a branch I ask you!?!) so she does that and we decorate the tables together.

7:00 Guests arrive and I beg them to lie to me and tell me IT SMELLS LIKE CHRISTMAS, right? Right! Realize the guests are all people who are at my house once a week anyway and start to relax.

7:30 Drink copious amounts of wine, listen to Christmas carols, discuss the last time we all decorated cookies and make some CUTE cookies. Laugh and enjoy that I'm at a CHRISTMAS PARTY having a good time. Feel thankful for friends (and cookies and attic fans and bacon dip).

Photographic evidence THAT IT HAPPENED as follows:

Those damn candles (which, as it happens, did wind up smelling quite delicious & christmas-ey):

Starting to relax and on my first glass of wine (in my girl robot apron from my friend Jaime):
The most-of-the-group shot (I made the cookies; they all contributed the icing and sparklies and yum yum toppings and more delicious cheesy dips!):

The decorated cookies ready for their Takhomasaks: