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We started early, getting up to make sure the last bits of cleaning were done.  I polished the floors while Janey set up a display of stuff in the baby’s room.  We met in the middle and somehow the house was suddenly full of people.  It happened so fast, and I remember looking up to meet Janey’s eyes and knew she was thinking the same thing.

My sister and her kids were the first to arrive, soon followed by my other sisters and mom (who had a car full of every side dish and condiment in existence).  Everyone pitched in to help get all the food prepared and the tables set.  And after just a few minutes, the non-family guests started to arrive.

Our wonderful friends, neighbors and family ate some great food, sat and chatted for a while, and really just had a good time.  People were so wonderful and brought us gifts of all sorts of baby items that will help us get our little guy on his way.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that anyone, let alone so many people, took time & money out of their lives to buy a little something for us.  And in many cases it wasn’t just a little something, it was big somethings.  It just makes my heart warm.

All-in-all I imagine we had 30 or 40 people of all ages here at the height of things.  I’m happy to say that even at it’s fullest I still felt like our little house could have accommodated more.  It never felt crowded to me, and everyone had a place to sit.  And really, it was only half the house since we closed the ‘private’ side off for company.

Some snow did fly near the very end of the party, but it wasn’t much.  However, it was cold. Quite cold outside.

If you’re reading this and you were here at the fete, thank you so much for coming.  We loved having you.

If you missed this one… not to worry.  There is definitely more shin-digs to come.

Party day is cold, an the following day is just stupid.

Merry Christmas… holy shit.

We have a few wonderful friends, and a fantastic family that want to have a shower to celebrate the upcoming baby.  They’ve said they want to buy gifts and do fun things.  Socialize and share stories, all at a shower thrown for baby Jessen …except showers suck and everyone knows it.

The shower scene is dominated by women. However, for a male man of the age that I am I can speak on the topic of showers fairly intelligently since I grew up in a house dominated by women, and also I have married one.  While I personally have only attended one shower which actually wasn’t bad at all (though I attribute this to my wife and family being involved), every story of every other shower that I’ve ever heard sounds like the kind of event that would make me bored to tears or say something like “really?” loud enough to offend the hostess. So what are we to do?

I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.  We’re going to throw an awesome party, outside, with meat on the grill.  Seasons be damned, temperature won’t stop us.  We’re going to squeeze one more awesome yard party out of this year if it kills us.

So friends, you guessed it.  We’re having a party in honor of the baby that’s currently taking up a bunch of my wife’s personal space.  Invitations will be going out this week and we’re looking forward to an awesome time.

The Invitations

I, not wanting to miss a chance to get all designery, put together an invitation with inspiration from this and this. 

the front of the invitation

the back of the invitation

Gifts

Gifts are always a strange topic with me. I hate registries. I don’t like telling people that I expect them to bring a gift. I want people to come and enjoy themselves and not worry if they’ll get looked at funny if they don’t give us something.

That being said… we are in need of many things little baby Jessen will use and enjoy when he comes into this world. So if someone does want to bring a little something, first I must say that we would appreciate it to a degree I can’t even express. We did go and play with the scanner while shopping at Baby’s R Us and we put together a wish list. It is pretty intimidating to see all the things that we’re supposed to have ready in list form.  So yes, I did break down & contribute to a baby registry to help anyone who does want to give a gift.

I’ll just sign off with this… if you want to come to the party, you don’t need to worry about a gift.  If you do want to bring a gift, bless you.  Please everyone just come and have some good grub and enjoy yourself.

Update

The printing is done, and delivery begins tomorrow!

the printing is all done