Chili and Caroling Party

The week before Christmas I hosted a chili and caroling party.

Why do I have people over you ask? Simple. It forces me to keep my house clean :)

Seriously though, there's just something special about getting the house "company clean". Oh how lovely it is to use the decorative finger-tip towels and light candles in the bathroom. And getting out the "fancy" soap is nicer than the kids' colored funny foam soap, don't you think?

I relish clean floors, a freshly dusted room, sparkling sinks, mirrors and commodes. I even re-arranged the furniture to accommodate our guests. I love this round table which folds in half. It is so nice to be able to use one side only. I also brought up a little rectangle table. The best part it was so easy to quickly fold it up and put it away when we gathered everyone for singing.

Here is Mike and Tyler my FIL and BIL respectively.

Nikki and baby Sophia. My Morgan and cousin Will.

Ty, Kevin and Chris, more BIL's

I had seats for 16 people.

Abby and Emily, my niece and SIL

Garrett, Rose (MIL) and Will

Me and my SIL Sara and her daughter Adri.

Kelsey wowed us with a performance of Taylor Swift's song "Untouchable". She has been practicing for quite a long time.

Chris

Kevin holding Sophia, who by the way was not a happy camper that night. She was a little fussy but quieted down when Kelsey played her song on the guitar. How cute is that?

Oh yes, my little monster. The one who is responsible for so many finger prints on my once sparkling mirrors. He's really cute though, so I'll keep him.

Rose was so gracious and accompanied us on the guitar while we sang carols. It was a dark and foggy night outside. Not to mention we had a lovely inversion which made the high that day around 17 degrees F. So naturally NO one wanted to go caroling in the traditional sense. Really it was COLD and we decided to just enjoy our songs sitting on the couch. It was so much fun.

Oh and yes, I made a big batch of chili for dinner. Yumm-O. Also had BBQ chicken salad, beet salad, and cheese, sour cream, and saltine crackers to top off the chili. Dessert was pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and another dessert that Ty brought (sorry I can't remember that one).

I wish you (had) a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!