Let the month o' parties begin...

December is always a very busy month for us, what with all the Christmas-related events we throw or are invited to. But this year is particularly busy. On top of all the Christmas events, we also have a number of baby-related events going on -- because all of our friends decided to get pregnant at about the same time as us. :)

So here's a brief rundown of our December schedule, starting with last weekend:

• Saturday, 12/5 -- surprise bridal shower for Baley in the afternoon; birthday party for Hilary in the evening
• Sunday, 12/6 -- Christmas shindig at Matt and Carrie's [which we ended up missing -- sorry we couldn't be there!]
• Friday, 12/11 -- PEF Christmas party
  
• Saturday, 12/12 -- baby shower for Andréa
• Sunday, 12/13 -- baby shower for me! Christmas Vespers service in the evening
• Friday, 12/18 -- work holiday party for me; David speaking at the last PEF meeting before break
  
• Saturday, 12/19 -- day-long childbirth "boot camp" at the hospital; work Christmas party for David in the evening
  

We were thinking about hosting a joint small group Christmas party at some point, but we're just not sure where to fit it in... Princeton's winter break starts on 12/19, and I imagine most of the folks in our small groups will be traveling starting that weekend. The ambitious hostess in me really wants to reprise the Christmas dessert extravaganza from last year -- that was so much fun! But realistically, it looks like we may have to settle for Christmas-themed desserts at our normal small group meetings instead...

But at least we're certainly not going to be deprived of opportunities to spend time with all our friends this month!

Last weekend kicked things off for us, with Baley's surprise bridal shower and Hilary's birthday party. Baley's shower was one of the few surprise parties I've ever been to that actually worked out as a surprise. :) Andréa, the hostess and organizer of the event, asked Baley to go Christmas shopping with her that morning. Earlier in the week, while they were planning their girly outing, Andréa got Baley's host family, the McMahans (in whose home the shower was held) to tell Baley to invite her friends Andréa and Erik over for lunch on Saturday -- so Baley thought she was getting a morning of shopping and then a small lunch with friends. Baley and Andréa walked into the McMahans' home at around 12:30 -- and dozens of Baley's friends jumped up to surprise her! Hats off to Andréa and the McMahans for a surprise well-planned. :)

We had so much fun showering Baley with love. We played a few silly games (all of which were actually really fun), ate tons of amazing homemade food, made a scrapbook for Baley with favorite recipes and photos (including Polaroids! from an actual Polaroid camera! who knew they still existed?), and gave Baley a bunch of great wedding gifts. Congratulations again, Baley and Greg -- we're so excited for you two!

And then we capped off our evening on Saturday with Hilary's 29th birthday party. The party had a really cute "miniatures" theme, ostensibly because 29 is a "miniature" 30, but really because -- Hilary and Steven announced their pregnancy that evening!! It was funny how discreet they were being about the announcement -- they'd printed out a couple sonograms and put them in tiny frames, and placed them on the table amidst the food. But most people didn't pick up on the news. Despite my best efforts to lay really broad hints about how much I looooved the decorations, and how cuuuuute the centerpieces were... I guess we as a group are all a little too subtle. :) Steven and Hilary finally just made a formal announcement, to the cheers of all their friends.

It's amazing how the pregnancy "bug" has been spreading in our circles lately... At one point, at Hilary's birthday party, all of the women in the room were pregnant. How crazy is that? But how exciting to have so many friends with whom to share this experience!

I wish I'd thought to bring our camera to these events last weekend... Rest assured, it'll be on hand for the rest of our jam-packed schedule! Even without photos, though, I wanted to commemorate both Baley's shower and Hilary's birthday party -- we feel so blessed to be part of such an amazing community here in Princeton, and we wanted to proclaim that to one and all. :)