Party: On

In a weak moment earlier this year, I promised my husband we could resurrect our traditional holiday party after a multi-year hiatus. In our early-married youth, we used to fill the house every Christmas season with virtually everyone we knew in a shoulder-to-shoulder affair reminiscent of college keggers.  (I guess the hubs missed squeezing up against all those women.) For me, it was a huge panic, especially when it came to maneuvering in a cramped and crowded kitchen. Now, that the kitchen is expanded, it's on again for 2012, albeit with an abbreviated 'neighborhood only' guest list. In true form, I ventured out this week only to discover most of the holiday invitations were SOLD OUT, including those nice 2-up printable invitations that are so easy to D-I-Y. Have you any idea how long it takes to hand-write, address and stamp 60 non-matching invitations? Just as I deposited them into the mailbox yesterday, I realized our party is on the same day as the end of the world. "OK. I'll do it this year....but never again!" I told him, half-hoping the Mayans will be right.