It Starts Today!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in the last few days but I have been so busy getting everything ready for company and the party that I haven't even had time to log into my computer!

Last night my daughter and I had to go to Home Depot and get some replacement bolts for a daybed. That seemed to take a lot longer than I thought it would but the good news is that we were able to finally find what we needed and get the daybed and trundle bed set up in one of the bedrooms. I will now have two functional guest rooms, one with a full size bed and one that can have two twin beds. I am going to need all the bed space I can get for the party this year. I am still not sure how many I will have staying over for the weekend but my rough estimate is 5-7. My friend Robyn is afraid of getting snowed in out in western Oklahoma so she will be arriving tomorrow. My sister will also be coming in tomorrow evening sometime. Today I go pick up Karen at the airport and also take care of a little surprise that I will tell you about tomorrow.

On Tuesday evening I was finally able to get all the prizes wrapped and get bows on the packages. It literally took me from the time I got home from work to the time I went to bed, which was about 6 hours, to finish wrapping the gifts and putting on the bows! Luckily some gifts were already wrapped. This picture isn't very good since it was taken with my cell phone but you can get an idea of how many prizes there are! To be honest I am not sure how many I have, somewhere between 32 and 36. I don't plan on moving them all to count either.

I got an excellent deal on the pretty foil wrapping papers I used, once again my favorite bargain store came through for me! The bows are made out of tulle. I bought several yards of blue, silver and white. I folded the tulle lengthwise and then cut 3" strips to make the bows and wrap around the packages. Tulle is awesome for bows and while it is more expensive than using the little sticky bows *okie so hates sticky bows* it is cheaper than using wired ribbon or other cloth ribbon. I love the elegance it adds to packages!

My friend came to see me last night and he said "you sure have a lot of presents under your tree" and I told him "those are all prizes!". He looked again, I think maybe trying to count, and then looked at me and said "so let me get this straight...everyone of those packages are for your friends". I told him "yep" and he shook his head and said "so you give your friends all of that and you don't get any". I laughed and told him "yep! It's my Christmas present to my friends!". He turned to me smiling and said "that's my girl! Always doing for others and never expecting anything in return". He always tells me I am going to be abundantly blessed one day and I always say "I ALREADY AM!". To tell ya the truth there is nothing that could be a better gift than having all my friends together with me for one evening a year and enjoying the laughter and love we all share.

I will be sure to try and post for tomorrow about how a little surprise that is going to happen turned out! I am hoping to be able and add pictures as well, but will have to see how it all plays out first.