After Party Let Down

I love entertaining.  Each December we host a big Christmas Open House for friends and family.  We send out our invitations early.  I plan a menu, what will I make new this year?  Which favorites will I make again?  I bake and cook and freeze food.  I decorate and clean and prepare.  I love to think of all the details: I make tags for all the foods, arrange flowers and centerpieces.  It is truly a labor of love.  I know that all my friends and family appreciate the time at our home, the food I've made, the opportunity to visit with friends, and the holiday spirit.

So what's wrong?

blah!

It's over.

So simple.

We've cleaned up the party, put away the food, washed the wine glasses, boxed up the punch bowl.  We've taken out the trash and loaded the recycling bin. 

It's over, till next time.

I guess there is a bit of after party let down.  All that anticipation and planning, and it's gone in a flash.  That flash was a night filled with great people and good cheer, but gone none the less. 

I certainly cannot live from party to party so I have that exciting feeling of happy anticipation, although it sometimes is quite tempting. 

But there is still real life going on the the background, homework, grocery shopping, laundry, appointments and meetings.  School for the kids and friends and friendships to care for.  There are still floors to sweep and trash to take out and bills to pay. No matter how many parties there are, life is still here.  And, that is what I have to attend to.

So, I need to remind myself to keep it all in perspective.  Life is not just a party, or a vacation, though we may sometimes wish it were. 

Now I move on to the next... planning for Christmas and a house full of guests.  Getting the Christmas menu put together, it is my turn to host this year.  What should I make?  Oh, and also, let's keep it all in perspective.  Amid the drama of the holidays, the excitement of the gifts and food and candy and cookies and wine and bows and wrapping, life goes on.  Remind myself to enjoy the mundane, simple, sweet, exciting, boring or difficult moments. Life goes on.