Christmas cards and decorations

If you usually receive a Christmas card from me, it should arrive today or tomorrow. And there is one person to thank for that… my friend, Tram Mai. There is no way I would have gotten it done if Tram had not had an ingenious party this past Sunday. (I’m a bad influence, I helped convinced her to name the party this… and I don’t mean the cute “mai” part, I mean the honest “s**t” part).

Yup, she invited friends over at 11:00 AM for a pot-luck “work” party. Bring whatever project you haven’t had time to do… or have been procrastinating on (that would be the cards, in my case) and get it done!

So I packed my cards, envelopes, Christmas letter, mailing list, and THIS Orzo Salad and headed over. While enjoying wonderful food, including a fabulous polenta-smothered mushroom and onion sauce made by Tram’s husband, Steve, I knocked out 75+ cards! All hand addressed, signed, stuffed, and sealed. The dreaded cards were the Achilles’ heel for the three of us, but we got them done.

Tram made a refreshing mango Prosecco cocktail, hot spiced cider, cheese trays, her mom’s egg rolls, and an array of tasty sweets, including lemon bars, frosted sugar cookies, and THIS pistachio fudge – Yum!

Their house is so beautifully decorated. One of the most simple yet impressive features was these huge grapevine wreaths hanging by plush red ribbon from the back and front windows. This photo does not do it justice, it was simply stunning!

And I love this shelf unit, filled with so many wonderful useful, and beautiful everyday things – with touches of Christmas throughout.

Tram’s dining room tablescape is just perfect! I will show you my table and some of our Christmas decor in tomorrow’s post.

Thank you Tram and Steve… oh, and Napa and Pressley – these are their portraits, I neglected to snap a photo of them, next time! It was such a fun, productive, and still somehow relaxing, Sunday afternoon. xoxo