Party Time

Casa Grande, Arizona

One thing Bill and I love is having our friends come to our home at Christmas time.  It inspired us to get everything back in its place from the disaster of installing carpet. Someone asked how we managed to decorate with all the chaos and Bill offered to put up the tree, while we were waiting for the movers and I was refilling the closets.  

I think he did a pretty good job.  Bill is such a detail person compared to me.  

Here's one of our favorite Cowboy decorations from our three girls.  Notice the hats have their names: Shay, Misty and Nikki.  The cowboy hat on the top of the tree does have a marshal's star.

I checked it out and gave it my thumbs up for a good job.

Next thing I knew, friends started arriving.

Jim and Paul were the first to arrive.  Jim walked in with a popcorn wreath that Sandie made.  I was just getting ready to take a photo of it, when the doorbell kept ringing.  I'm so sorry I didn't get the photo before it was eaten, but trust me when I say, it was as good as it looked.  Thanks again, Sandie.

I think we counted over 20 people but we managed well.

I tried to get everyone's photo, but somehow I think I missed a few.  I think the favorite beverage this year was margaritas.  

Margaritas or water.  The two best beverages. 

There was plenty of food but also plenty of appetites. 

We were even lucky enough to have an international party this year.  Thank you, Doug and Toni for making that happen.

Nick and Jeanne had GPS problems as they went through Coolidge but they still weren't that late.  

Notice how the men and women separate.  Wish that would happen at the luncheons.  

One thing nice about having a Christmas party in the desert is the warm weather.

We enjoyed having everyone and thanks to Sam's Club and Costco it was no trouble at all.  Everyone knows how I hate to cook.  

Yesterday we didn't have a thing planned.  The big box was still sitting in the garage and we decided to make sure it arrived undamaged.  This was a major job to remove it from the box.  It was on a wood platform and really packaged well. 

Thank goodness we had the furniture dollys and the handcart.  Once out of the crate, we decided to go ahead and move it into the house.

This is where we had the TV temporarily until the new stand arrived.

 Here's a look at the same corner with the new media stand and without the pictures hung.

I was a little worried about ordering something on line but when I found this one at half the cost of the same thing on Amazon with free shipping, I did it.

Bill and I really make an effort to buy made in USA and for something like this it was a big job to find it made in the states.  When it arrived, I found out it was made in Arizona.  Even better!

Today the last of the boxes from the garage were brought in.

The bookcase is back in order and there isn't anything left in the garage that belongs inside. 

Bill might be in the same spot all day.  He says he's not moving anything else.  Of course, we still want to go to Yuma in the near future which means moving groceries to the coach.  

This coming week there are three luncheons/Christmas parties to attend.  The diet will start January 2nd.  

Turtle Safely........