I have been eying the weather warily all day today. We were supposed to get some kind of big soggy storm in our area this weekend, and I figured with our luck, it would hit right before the party was to start.

Luckily, however, it has been nothing more than a little misty and damp so far today. In fact, this morning it was clear – clear enough that Richard could get outside and sweep off the front porch and steps while I whisked around inside the house, wiping down surfaces and cleaning windows. I set up the crockpot with cider and mulling spices, unearthed the tea kettle and filled it with water to boil for hot cocoa, found a cute container to set out the mini marshmallows, and thawed the remainder of the massive batch of chocolate toffee chip cookies I made, that have been lurking in the freezer for just such an occasion. We put wet food on plates and then I took them downstairs, followed closely thereafter by a quartet of loud and suddenly starving cats, because bribery by canned food is much, much easier for herding cats than trying to actually *catch* them when they most definitely do not want to be caught. And in a move that stunned us both, when I put down the second plate, Checkers descended from her lofty post atop the largest cat tree in the bedroom, and ate off the plate *beside Tangerine.*. Considering that this is the same cat who gets a wee bit pissy if someone else is on the bed when she is on the bed, or someone else is even *looking* at her, I am going to count this as a tiny little Christmas miracle.

Everything on my detailed list had been crossed off with time to spare once we finished, which turned out to be a good thing because a few folks (who had to come from very long distances) actually showed up a little bit early. Eventually the house started to fill up completely, and it turned out to be a very good thing that we did all the rearranging of furniture, because that meant there were lots of places for people to gather. At one point I started laughing because the living room was full of lots of Richard’s friends from his writers’ group, while the green room was full of friends from my Sacramento knitters group, and everyone else was congregated in the kitchen, as if there had been some unspoken rule that said they all couldn’t mix. It was fun having knitters from my old group and my new group getting to meet, and bonding over recognized lace scarf patterns and handknit socks. Several of our neighbors were able to come, which was fun, since none of them had seen the kitchen since we did the big remodel, and jaws were actually dropping each time one of them would wander in.

Eventually, the party ended, and everyone headed out, leaving behind an impressive collection of cookies and other goodies. Luckily, Richard’s best friend remained behind, which meant we could foist most of the leftovers on him to take home. Most of our guests remembered to bring some canned food for the local food bank, so there’s a nice collection piled in the front hall to be taken down later this week. I have released the cats, who are now creeping slowly around the upstairs again, nervously checking to make sure that all those strange noisy people are truly gone. And we are left with a house that is suddenly quiet after all the people, filled with the smells of holiday cookies and mulled cider and hot chocolate, and oh yes, very, very clean.

Tis the season for Holidailies!