Party!

Twenty, count 'em, TWENTY people were in my living room last night, to celebrate a couple of family birthdays. Just in case you're not familiar with the sort of house I live in, said living room is roughly 14X18 (been a while since I measured - I'll check that later, to be sure), and generally has a computer desk (that's a recent addition to the room, wasn't there at Thanksgiving), 3 or so armchairs, a footstool, a few straight-backed chairs, and a couple of small tables in it, along with the built-in window seat and bookcases, and various more portable items, like a small CD player, knitting projects, books on the shelves, books not on the shelves, etc.

Full enough without adding a couple of dining tables, 2 high chairs, and a dozen more chairs to that.
And the people to fill the chairs.
And the food and such.
Cozy.

The original plan was, I would host this party in my back yard. That's what I do for big crowds, with the exception of Thanksgiving. I always host a BBQ for Independence Day fireworks (which will be on July 3rd this year), because I have a great view from my front yard of the Stadium of Fire fireworks. The yard and patio are plenty big enough, and I have chairs and tables galore for the outside. Plenty of room to spread out. (Plus, if I host something before the 4th, it's not such a big job getting ready for that one.)

The weather had different ideas.

And, you know, hosting an indoor party means a lot more cleaning up, because you know they'll be in the house, and not just to use the bathroom (which always has to be cleaned anyway).
I kept finding people in other rooms, even downstairs, just trying to get away from the crowd for a minute.

My two darling nephews took me for a walk after I put the food away. Their sweet little sister decided she had to come, too. We got the umbrellas, put on our jackets, and walked around the block. Little sister didn't want to carry her umbrella, or be under one of ours. I think she likes walking in the rain.

The party was GREAT. Lots of good food. Lots of fun.

I even did all the dishes already.

(Wish I'd remembered to get the camera out.)