Recap of the Christmas Soiree and my 400th post!

Last night I held my 3rd annual Christmas Soiree.  Luminarias once again lined

the walkway. I got the idea from Martha Stewart's blog.

I ordered all of the food from Zuzu's Cafe in Wakefield and I have to say everything was perfect! They delivered my food at exactly the time I asked them to. Everyone loved the appetizers and sandwiches.

We had caprese bites with balsamic dressing and mini phyllo cups filled with salmon salad with mango salsa, buffalo chicken salad and one with spinach and feta.

The caprese bites were delicous, Tomato, mozzarella, and basil on a skewer, yum!

I ordered two small baked bries, one with fig jam and one with cranberry orange relish. They were complemented with crackers and berries.

The finger sandwiches were also delicious. There were three kinds: roasted vegetables with goat cheese, roast beef with cheddar and horseradish,and chicken salad with cranberries and almonds.

My friend Diane works at Starbucks and I hired her to make lattes and espressos at the party. She had a lot of customers and some people wemt back for three or four drinks. I really enjoyed my gingerbread latte.  If you are a long time reader of my blog, you will know that Diane is Oscar's foster mother.  They had a wonderful reunion prior to the party. Diane's beau, Michael, also helped with the drinks.

Diane makes a perfect latte.

I used tea cups for the hot drinks.

My friends Roger and Deborah surprised me with a visit from Santa. Their son Nathan was making the rounds last night and he stopped by briefly.

And he posed for photos with the guests. I was totally surprised and when he walked in the door I wanted to say you've got the wrong house but I was polite. Then I thought is he going to rob me?

There was not much left of my White Christmas Punch by the time I took this photo.

Lots of conversation with friends. And the party lasted about 5 hours.

I ordered these little Marie Antoinette angels from Australia. They arrived in time for the party but I had thought they would have been perforated and I would just pop them out off the sheet.  No, they had to be cut out. My sister cut all 16 of them out for me the night before the party.

This cake was the showstopper. Midnight Velvet cake made by my friend Mary. She also made

snowdrop cookies and shortbread and also gingerbread cookies and red velevet cupcakes.

Paul enjoyed many espressos.

I took a few shots the night before the party. My tabletop living room tree. I don't put up a large tree as Percy would climb it and destroy it.

I used some twinkle lights to illuminate the bird cage and later I added a flameless candle.

Percy loves to watch the "fire" in the fireplace.

Here's another shot of the teenage Santa Claus.  I think there's a seasonal career in the making!

Today, we were all exhausted and we lazed around a bit. The kitties loved my new Rachel Ashwell comforter.

The two boys looked so cute, I just had to take another photo of them.

As I mentioned in the title, this is my 400th post. Wow, it's amazing that I found 400 things to write about!

Hopefully, there will be many more.

I am linking to The Inspired Room's Christmas House Tour blog party.  Click here to see more posts.