holiday cocktail party

For five years running, the first Saturday of December was reserved for the Holiday Cocktail Party, our annual festive celebration of the holiday season.  It began in 2008 and was the result of my idea to get dressed up for an evening, share our decorated home with our friends, and party hard but in classier style.  My one rule was that no jeans were allowed, and the idea in which I was most proud of was that of playing champagne pong.  Our friends were always in great spirit for our party and looked forward to it every year.

Eric and I have been struggling financially over the last few months.  It's been the Catch-22 effect of one thing happening after another, keeping us from being able to get caught up.  The end of the year is always heavy on our budget with several birthdays on Eric's side of the family, our wedding anniversary, and of course the daunting holidays.  I absolutely love the holiday season, but being festive is expensive.  And it gets expensive fast.

Simon's first Christmas is incredibly important to me.  His first birthday is also around the corner, another event very close to my heart.  While it can be argued that neither occasion really matters because Simon is too young to remember them later, we want to acknowledge these milestones in our son's life and celebrate them as a family to the best of our ability.  And just as importantly, I want to be able to provide for Simon, day in and day out, having the means to get him whatever he will need whenever he needs it, without question.  In our current situation, this means making some changes and sacrifices.

It was with great sadness that Eric and I decided to cancel this year's cocktail party.  I was disappointed to make the announcement; however, I also felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders.  Maybe it's because our lives are so different now since we've had Simon, but a small part of me feels kind of 'over' the whole cocktail party.  We have so many wonderful memories of years past, but I almost feel like those days are more behind us now.  Don't get me wrong: we still love and enjoy attending get-togethers with our friends, but hosting a event like our cocktail party isn't on the forefront of my mind as something as or more important than our son.  And we could really, really save that money for better uses.

Instead of scrambling to make sure the house was clean, food was prepped, beverages were purchased, and hurriedly doing my hair and makeup, tonight our little family of three traveled up to Auburn for the Festival of Lights Parade.  I will write more about this in Simon's 10 month blog, but I just wanted to share how incredibly thankful I am that this is how we chose to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season.  The parade was beautiful and it was truly a magical experience to share with our boy.  I'm content to say that I have no regrets about how tonight's evening was spent.

The first Saturday of December has new meaning in our house; it is a day that we will spend together as a family, carrying on a beautiful new holiday tradition.  I'm amazed at how Simon continues to change us.  And I am proud of how we are deciding to change for him.