After five years of living in the quintessential mountain home, we decided to host a holiday dinner party for the first time. Let the anxiety and panic begin!
One of Bryon’s favorite tv channels is HGTV, where he loves to watch Property Brothers and House Hunters. My personal favorite of course is Log Cabin Living. I always crack up when the fabulous couple talks about their wish list. Somewhere on the wish list is wanting a great space for entertaining. This is true even when said couple is moving to a new city where they don’t know a living soul. I don’t know if I had a wish list when we found our home. I’m not even sure we were actually looking. It was more like I had this notion, this dream of living in the mountains, searched on Realtor.com one night and found our house. But I can tell you this — if I had a wish list, space for entertaining would not be on it, not on the top, not the near bottom.
Hosting a party, or having anyone come to our house period makes me want to break out in hives. I don’t know if it’s the people pleaser in me, or comparing myself to others who seem to have the party planning thing down pat. We have a friend who seems to always have a perfectly kept house, like museum style clean, no matter what. It doesn’t matter if there is a full blown snow storm, mud season, whatever, her house always looks perfect.
So the thought of inviting other people into our house, and comparing myself makes me want to run for the hills. And it’s not just the clean thing — it’s everything! Will people want to come? Will too many people come? Will I be able to make clever chatter with them? Should I make them take their shoes off or not? Will the food be right? And because it’s Boulder County, the food thing is a major deal. You have to have vegetarian options, vegan options, gluten-free options, every kind of option possible. Do I have the right kind of drink offering — are they beer drinkers, wine drinkers, or non-alcoholic? The pressure to get it all right seems so overwhelming, it’s easier just to be hermits, and never have anyone over to our house at all.
But then, those people, you know those people, they have the nerve to invite you to their perfect home, and host their perfect party. And of course, proper etiquette says you must reciprocate. And so, here we are — the eve before the holiday dinner party, and the anxiety is at its highest. One thing I know, we may not have the fanciest house, and it may not be the cleanest, but boy do we have the most awesome Christmas tree! Wish me luck….
