Note to self: Even if only one friend were to show up, it would still be a party worth throwing.
The annual shindig happened over a month ago, but I wanted to be sure to make mention of it here in the blog, since I have a tendency to forget how much fun it is every year. I always stress over it, and worry over whether it’s worth the extra-thorough house-cleaning and the food prep for days and the last-minute RSVPs. The answer is yes. It’s worth it.
As usual, I didn’t do much photography over the course of the afternoon, as I was too busy eating and talking and generally having fun. (Plus, my dress didn’t have any pockets, and therefore I didn’t have my iPhone on my person.)
The macaroni salad and lomi-lomi salmon were chilling in the fridge, having been prepared the night before. Connor and I made the SPAM musubi late in the morning, and I shredded the kalua pork around noon. The iPod was loaded up with my Luau playlist, luau-themed rubber duckies were strewn about, and leis were ready to be lei’d. All was in readiness, and it was a beautiful thing. (Especially after all my fussing the night before and wondering if the stress was really worth it.)
Donna arrived shortly after the declared 1:00 party-starty time, bearing pineapple upside down cake, chocolate-covered pretzels, and bridge mix. Shortly thereafter, Nate and his two kids arrived with fruit and cream cheese dip, and the party commenced.
Memaw’s macaroni salad is always a hit, so I wasn’t surprised that everyone dug into that. What did surprise me was how well-received were the lomi-lomi salmon and the musubi, especially after all the hairy eyeballs I got when I described them.
It was entirely too hot to hang out in the sunroom — which was unfortunate, since I’d decked it out in luau rubber duckies and 9-foot-long lei garlands. Instead, we sat in the living room and hung out and ate and talked, with my Luau playlist as background music. (At least I hadn’t relocated our iPod speaker dock into the sunroom yet.)
Nate’s oldest is in high school, and has grown beyond her sullen pre-teen years and into the nearly-an-adult-and-almost-ready-to-drive years, so it was cool getting to talk with her. Nate’s youngest has a couple years on Connor, but still likes playing with younger kids, so that always works out nicely. Mark and Rocky and Harper arrived later, so there were many preschooler antics at that point.
Really, the theme of the afternoon was just hanging out and talking, which I can totally get behind. We watched some of our Hawaii Vacation DVD from 2008 — back when Aaron and I were many pounds heavier than we are now — and sat around and talked and grazed. I let the kids play with my Instax camera, and I took snapshots of party guests for the guestbook. I think we all enjoyed ourselves, even if the party wasn’t anything particularly fancy.
Nate and his kids had a good hour’s drive home, so they were the first to head out. Rocky had to work later that evening, so they took off next. Donna hung out until after Connor went upstairs for bathtime around 7pm, since her hosts for the night weren’t going to be home until later. That was fun, though, because Donna and I rarely get much one-on-one time, and I guess I hadn’t realized how open we really are with each other, and how much we’re on a similar wavelength.
So, future Me, when you’re searching through your blog entries later on for “shindig” and this entry comes up, let this remind you that the prep is worth it. Even if only one guest were to come and visit, it would still be worth it.
And, boy howdy, would you enjoy those leftovers.