Day After A Party

We love having parties. Typically, we try to give an open house around All Saint's Day. This past month, we combined it with hosting the first official Fairy Tale Novel Fan Forum Gathering. All our parties have the same format: we ask everyone to bring a dish, drink, snack, or dessert to share, we clean the house, and we start around noon and go on till whenever. This year we were delighted to have The Miller Sisters come and play a set in our living room (which converted to a "stage" so easily that I had hope we can do it again). It was wonderful to have our house filled with friends old and new enjoying themselves.
But I have to say one of my favorite parts of hosting a party is the morning after, when we group the remnants of the food into breakfast and snacks for the lazy-day-afterwards. I stumbled upon a new way to create a buffet display during this party: I stacked our two benches atop one another and covered them with a fall-colored tablecloth. Leftover wine and hard cider glows on the top level, and the pumpkins and fall flowers still look fresh. And thanks to some thoughtful guests, the floor and room are actually clean! Once again we were thankful to all the friends who helped make our party a success: we look forward to seeing you all again!