Did you hear that?! It was the sound of me knocking down one of my December goals. Woot!
6. Plan a Holiday Dinner for friends- DONE!
Last night was the 2nd Annual Ladies Holiday Dinner.
We had a table of 15 ladies at Maggiano’s to eat, drink and be merry. You would think arranging this many people to be at one dinner would be tough, but it was easy peasy. I sent out an evite to the regular Martini Monday crew and poof…they came. I was so excited!
The restaurant was decorated for the holidays and a few other big dinner parties were happening.
In addition to some yummy food, we also did a Yankee Swap. What do you call a gift swap in your area? I had never heard the term Yankee Swap until I moved to Boston. Then I had to learn all the rules. Giving gifts can get really complicated!
Now here is the embarrassing part. I thought I was being really clever by bringing a carafe and wine glass set from Crate & Barrel that I picked up last year on sale for times like these . Uhh…I should have looked at last year’s post on our holiday dinner because apparently I gave THE EXACT SAME THING last year. Holy crap.
Friends, I promise that next year will be a new gift. Mostly because I am out of the carafe and wine glasses. 
Kidding…kind of.
To top the night off we had dessert. Oh boy did we have dessert.
Apple Crostada
Cheesecake
Wow. Just wow. I always love cheesecake, but the apple crostada was just perfect! Flaky, sweet, slightly tart, and delicious. So good!
![clip_image00161_thumb1_thumb[1]](http://agirlandhermutt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/clip_image00161_thumb1_thumb1_thumb.gif)
Not to get too sappy and mushy, but I just have to say that I am so thankful for this wonderful group of ladies.These ladies are smart, successful, caring and funny individuals. I don’t get to see all of them often, but every time I do I make sure to acknowledge how lucky I am to have such a great group of friends. Me=Lucky Girl!
Do you do gift swaps with friends or family? What do you call it?
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
anything fabulous from crate & barrel will be appreciated, even if it’s a repeat!!! i love your gift! and i love your smiley friends!
i have so many exchanges, but the one in particular exists with my little sisters. i have two sisters.
i created this gift, and it will be a christmas tradition forevermore:
- i ventured to a cigar shop and purchased (for like a dollar or two) one of the empty adorable classy looking cigar boxes!
- i bought 3 boxes.
- i gave one to each of my little sisters.
- inside of each box, i included something that was very special to me in 2010.
- and for each year for the rest of our lives, we will follow a rotating schedule. each sister will receive someone else’s box each year, and each sister must accordingly insert something about themselves which was monumental for that present year!
so, at the end of our lives, we’ll have a box full of memories!
ta dah!
x
What a creative and lovely idea!
How fun! My friends and I usually exchange gifts, but since most of them live out of state now it’s something we get in the mail.
Still fun though.
Who doesn’t love getting things in the mail?!
Dinner sounds like fun! I’ve been trying to coordinate a dinner with some of my close girlfriends once a month and the hardest part is finding a date that the majority of us can attend! I haven’t been to Maggiano’s in such a long time but I keep getting emails from them “buy one pasta dish, get one free” [yum]
I’m not getting those emails! Probably better though.
It is so hard to get things organized with people who lead busy lives!
Erin,
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I believe I am the lucky one to be included in your group of fabulous females!
Anne
Such a nice thing to say!!!
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