Personal Christmas Party

Today was not the best of days...classes were interminable, the day was long, I was tired, and the insurance drama of yester-month sallies forth.  So, beat down and depressed, I decided there was only one thing to do.

I decided to throw myself a Christmas party.

I went all-out for my spontaneous personal Christmas party.  Deciding from the start that no Christmas party is complete without homemade cookies fresh from the oven, I hunted down a Coconut Cookie Recipe that I thought I had all of the ingredients for, and quickly discovered that I didn't have any baking soda.  I quickly threw on my new green pea coat, and used this opportunity to go to Central Market, the swanky grocery store across the street from my tried and true Tom Thumb store, to pick up some baking soda and something to eat for dinner.  Central Market has a massive prepared food section, so I picked up some chicken cordon bleu and lemon-scented jasmine rice.  Because this is a Christmas party, and you should have good party food.

So I got back to the apartment, flipped on a Pandora Christmas station, and set to heating up my dinner and whipping up the cookie batter.  Then I plopped myself down on the couch, with the first batch of cookies in the oven, and popped in a Friends DVD to watch my favorite Christmas episode - "The One with the Holiday Armadillo."  For you non-Friends aficionados, the general plot line is that Ross (who is Jewish, by the way) wants to get his son excited about Hanukkah, but feels bad that Santa isn't coming and tries at the last minute to rent a Santa costume...and is predictably unsuccessful.  The result: the Holiday Armadillo, Santa's half-Jewish helper.  It's generally hilarious.

Party dinner.

Party Cookies, Part 1

Party Cookies, Part 2 

After dinner, I turned the Christmas music back on, and proceeded to set up my recently acquired Christmas tree.  I was a little bit concerned about it's Charlie Brown-esque spindly quality at first, but when the lights are turned on and with ornaments to fill it out, it actually looks pretty good.   I hung my ornaments happily, after tying ribbons around the top of each, and cut out a star from sparkly scrapbook paper to top the tree.  It makes me happy.

Ta-da!  Christmas tree!

For size reference

The tree is actually just the perfect size for my apartment...big enough to not be pathetic, but small enough to not overwhelm the room.  It was the idea of setting up the Christmas tree that first sparked the personal Christmas party idea, and I was right - having a lit-up Christmas tree in the room makes my life a little brighter (pun intended), and makes it seem like everything's going to be okay.

I finished out the night by watching Funny Face on DVD while working on the Christmas craft project (which is coming along quite nicely, but is still not quite finished and therefore not yet photo-worthy).  Old musicals just feel Christmas-y, even if they have nothing to do with Christmas.  But Audrey Hepburn, fun dance scenes, and movies set in Paris are always welcome in my life.  

Of course, no Christmas party movie viewing is complete without hot chocolate and cookies.

Toasty

So I glued paper and twisted wire while watching my old movie, and sipped my hot chocolate while munching on my cookies, and called it a good night.  Who cares if Christmas is still a month and a half away, anyway?  I need a little Christmas, right this very minute.