Today was the 5th annual hot chocolate potluck, and it makes me really happy that it's become such a tradition.
Erin's picture of her mug.
Jack and I spent the morning cleaning the apartment. It actually took a lot longer than I thought, but that's because we were being particularly thorough. For example he cleaned up the nursery and our room really well even though it was unlikely anyone would go in there, and I cleaned out the fridge and wiped down the oven and other things we normally don't get to. I don't think we really needed to go to that level just for our guests but I'm glad we did because if we don't clean that much when we're having a bunch of guests, when would we? Even now after it's all over the apartment is much cleaner than typical, which is great.
Sadly, Sarah had to cancel last minute because she's sick, so I took Jane and went to Safeway to pick up candy canes (one of the items Sarah was going to bring) plus chocolate chips for my gluten free brownies. It was fun running the quick errand with Jane, who was very happy to be in the shopping cart watching the aisles of products go by. She was giggling a lot. I let her hold the box of candy canes while we were checking out and she was very interested at first. But after I scanned the box and gave it back to her she threw it over her shoulder into the shopping cart basket, haha.
About 30 minutes before guests were supposed to arrive I put both Clara and Jane down for naps in the hopes they would sleep the full amount. Clara hardly ever takes naps now but I thought it would be best to try because she is getting over a cold and I knew the day would be very stimulating. She protested at first but I told her "You take a nap, and then you'll see Henry!" and she seemed happy about that and got into bed pretty willingly.
I told Henry about that when he arrived not long after and he thought it was pretty cool. He arrived early because traffic was lighter than he thought but it was nice to visit with him extra. He brought chips, chocolate and caramel syrup, grapes, and fruit juice. He also brought us an Amazon Echo Dot (an "Alexa") his work had given him, and he and Jack spent some time setting it up. Almost immediately Clara announced "Alexa! Play 'Ice Cream Truck!'" and the Dot started playing this soothing children's instrumental sounding song. Clara know's how to do it because Beth has an Echo Dot too.
Erin and Braden arrived with many fancy cheeses, salami, crakcers, hot cocoa mix and whipped cream. Rachel came with more whipped cream, different kinds of sprinkles, chips and all kinds of dips (pico de gallo, guac, etc), and two miniature gluten free cakes! (One carrot cake, one "midnight" chocolate ganache.)
At some point around here both girls were awake. I brought Clara out and left Jane in the hope she'd sleep longer since it had been only 40 minutes or so. Clara acted shy and laid in the hallway under her Marauder's Map blanket, slowly crawling/scooting closer to the living room to see what was going on. Jane was distraught and would not go back to sleep, so I went and got her and she cuddled me while watching everyone. We just sat on the couch and observed people visiting and prepping food, and I can't say I minded all the baby cuddles, although I wondered if she was going to be that way all afternoon/evening. Clara warmed up pretty quickly and started playing with Henry.
Singing "Jingle Bells" to Henry.
Around then Renata and Kaisen arrived with not only gluten free pizza and a rotisserie chicken but also (1) the best ugly Christmas sweaters (Renata's lights up when she moves) and (2) a Minnie toy set for Clara and Jane that has a bunch of snap on dresses, bows, purses, and shoes as well as (Clara's favorite part) two little kittens and a dog for Minnie.
Jane still wanted to only cuddle me but Clara was very excited and she and Henry and later Kaisen explored the set together. Erin very kindly made me a mug of cocoa complete with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles and I sat in the corner by the Christmas tree holding Jane and chatting with Henry and then Renata. Eventually Jane was prepared to be passed off to Jack and I got a bit more mobile, and ultimately of course Jane warmed up entirely and was wandering around everyone checking out the action.
Renata and I had a pretty good one-on-one visit and talked about work, NCLEX, her dog sitter, how the siblings are doing, all sorts of things. It's a good crew because everyone already knows one or more other guests so it isn't a tricky hosting situation to keep people included.
After we had all ate and visited for awhile we decided to start games. In years past we've either visited the entire time or maybe played Paper Game or had a few people play Tichu while others visit. This year we decided to try Quiplash. Jack had set up a Steam account on our desktop in advance and Neil let us use his credentials.
The game was a huge hit. I'm a big fan because it's easy to move around and keep playing despite interruptions, since everything is done from your phone. We had a good crew for similar senses of humor--in fact in several cases the answers were nearly identical (essential oils, fake pockets, others I can't remember now). Kaisen and Braden in particular seemed to laugh a lot but I know Erin also loved it because she encouraged us to play several more rounds. It was great. And to make it even better, Clara pulled up her own chair amongst the adults and sat watching and laughing a lot. Even Jane would start laughing (a bit fake sounding but very hard) when all the adults laughed.
It was so adorable because neither of them have any idea what we're talking about but they think it's really funny that we think something is so funny. Clara also loves the game's background music and sound effects and she kept tugging on Rachel's shirt to point both out to her.
Eventually Renata and Kaisen had to get back to their dog sitter, but the rest of us played a few more rounds of Quiplash before switching to Bomb Squad (or whatever the game is called) - it's a game where four people have to work cooperatively to defuse bombs. It's highly strategic. Henry and I sat out and kept an eye on the kids and watched the game, and Jack, Braden, Erin, and Rachel all played. They were pretty into it. I love using Steam games for parties. Really fun, no clean up, kids can't really interrupt.
Dance party to the sound track of Bomb Squad Academy.
Not long after that everyone except Henry headed out. He stayed and helped clean up and play with the kids a bit more, and I showed him the birthday gift I've already made for Dad, which he thought was really good. We visited a while longer until it was time to put the kids to bed, then he headed out too.
Jack and I got the kids to bed around the usual time, 8pm - 8:15pm or so. What was unusual was how tired we both were. I went to sleep as soon as they were down--I didn't even get under the covers until I woke up again later. Jack also came to bed at like 9pm, which is early for him. That's why I was awake today (Sunday) at 6:15am--it had already been like 10 hours of sleep, which felt great. Now I have some quiet time in the morning before anyone else wakes up to record the day. :)
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