Tag Archives: parties

What NOT to give someone for Christmas

I received a beautifully wrapped gift a few Christmases ago from someone who shall not be named. (Don’t worry–this is an acquaintance, and there is NO WAY he or she reads my blog. Um, I hope.) It had some heft to it, and based on the rectangular shape I figured maybe it was an awesome board game. Or a carved tray. Or something cool.

Then I opened it.

And it was . . .

. . . yes. A larger-than-life bar of chocolate.

“But how great is that!” you may be thinking.

Let me clarify–these weren’t individually sized pieces of chocolate, ideal for consumption. This was one bar. Many, many pounds of chocolate, forged together into an unbreakable, un-bite-able plank. Entirely impractical for the following reasons:

1) You need special equipment to cut this thing. No ordinary knife was going to do the job.

2) How do you store it? Er . . . with a whole roll of plastic wrap?

3) Breaking off pieces would result in mess, mess, mess, with tiny chocolate shavings festooning the whole area.

4) It weighs a ton. And doesn’t fit easily in a cupboard. Or in any Ziploc bag I’ve ever seen.

5) Who eats that much chocolate???

Anyway, it was going to take way too much work to deal with this thing. Way too much trouble–and yet I couldn’t throw the thing away, because then I’d have guilt all over my face next time I saw this person. All I could think of was how to get rid of this thing as quickly as possible. Our next social event was a little Christmas party for our Bible study, at the home of Joe and Kathy. Joe and Kathy also happen to have 5 kids. I quickly hatched a plan to foist this bar of chocolate on them. Either directly, or by hiding it in the pile of presents under their tree.

I showed it to our small group and David, our Bible study leader, examined the monster.

It’s bigger than his head!

Way bigger.

We soon determined that someone needed to try to take a bite. That special someone was going to be Carrie.

I don’t remember if she was willing, or if my aggressive side came out and forced her hand.

Go Carrie go!

That girl is fearless.

And she has nice teeth.

Why can’t I have nice teeth like that?

Anyway, if she keeps gnawing on that chocolate she ain’t gonna have nice teeth for long.

So the conclusion of this little piece of Christmas history is this: unless you know that the giftee is planning a fondue party for 50 the following day, please think twice before purchasing a bar of chocolate of this magnitude for anyone.


Sugar and Spice baby shower

Hi friends!

So much to say. With my baby shower a little over a week ago and our big CD release party and concert on Saturday, I’m quickly falling behind in keeping you all up to date. So let’s get to it: my baby shower was lovely!

My friend Beth hosted and took care of all the food, and Carrie headed up all the decorations, games and activities.

It was great to have all these women gathered together from different realms of my life–my mother and mother-in-law . . .

. . . friends from college . . .

. . . ladies from church . . .

. . . all of them so encouraging and supportive (and three of them also pregnant!).

I didn’t get any great pictures of the food (hitting self on head), but Jessica brought awesome gluten-free cupcakes with pink frosting, and Beth made about half a million delights: some kind of quinoa pie/quiche thing, a fruit bowl, lemon squares, berry tarts, a gluten-free cheesecake tart, quiche, Caprese salad, and more treats that I’m probably forgetting all about.

Oh, and coffee! Her husband David brewed it nice and strong, just like I like it.

I loved all the games Carrie chose. My mom proved fiercely competitive at stealing peoples’ pink ribbon necklaces if they slipped up and said the word ‘baby.’

(you can see above that’s she’d collected 3 at that point–many more were to follow)

I expected no less from her.

Then we played the game involving drawing a rendition of baby Alice on the back of a paper plate placed on top of your own head–without looking.

Beth’s focus was intense.

My friend Sarah kept winning–first, she won the paper plate game (she’s the one with the plate still on her head).

(she drew an adorable singing baby that looked like a snuggly little glow worm)

Then she won the belly-measuring game; her string measured exactly–and I mean EXACTLY–what my belly did. And then she cleaned things up by winning the whose-baby-picture-is-this game. We decided her new vocation should be baby-shower-crasher. She should just waltz into baby showers, win all the games, and collect all the prizes.

She could end up with a lot of candles and soaps, or something.

Then the ladies all prayed for me, my husband and Alice. I was so encouraged by all their prayers, and by the sweet song we sang at the end of this time.

And then, to finish things off, it was time for presents!

The generosity of all these ladies was amazing. There were baby books . . .

. . . adorable outfits . . .

(some of which I wanted to wear myself)

. . . things that made me cry . . .

. . . PRECIOUS girly little socks that looked like shoes with ruffled ribbons . . .

. . . beautifully written cards (that made me realize I need to stop forgetting to include a card with my gifts) . . .

Oh my, you guys.

I’m having a girl!!!

I leave you with a few more pictures. And thank you to everyone who came (or sent gifts and well-wishes from afar) to make that day so special for me and my wee one!