Hosting Holidays

Ant and I hosted our first holiday at the house on Sunday!  With each of our grandfathers having big birthday celebrations this month, we have seen most of our family within the last few weeks, so we decided it was a perfect time to take advantage of hosting a smaller event!!! We hosted Ant's parents, my parents, and my baby sis :) My mom also just turned in her PhD dissertation last Thursday, so there was plenty to celebrate!

I thought I'd give you a quick play by play of what hosting a holiday at the lake looks like!

Saturday night we went to the grocery store to stock up.  Anyone who knows me at all knows this means I was throwing a {minor} temper tantrum, and Ant was maintaining his saint level patience.  We didn't have a list, so it was even more of a mess.  BUT! We got the last sliced pre cooked ham…and all of the other necessary yumminess…and got the heck out of there!  We then spent the rest of the night doing absolutely nothing related to holiday prep.  We watched Frozen and relaxed on the couch and went to bed early!

Sunday morning we got up and had an early start!  Well, Ant got an early start…I insisted on 30 extra minutes of sleep, and when I woke up Ant had breakfast waiting…that man knows the way to my heart.  After eating we got into motivation mode, and proceeded to clean the entire downstairs.  The benefit to hosting family is that it um, gently encourages spring cleaning :)  We tested out our new dyson which I LOVE - it's perfect for our hardwood floors!  We got the ham in the oven, and took a break for lunch on the patio in the backyard.

The adorable note I woke up to - my fiancé is quite the artistic one.

Beautiful flowers from my future MIL

Decided Easter was the perfect time to get the flags flying!!

Let's get that ham cooking!

Our foxy little friend is ready for spring :)

After lunch, we decided to see what downtown Guilford looked like on Easter Sunday.  The answer…empty.  On the hunt for coffee, we discovered Perk on Church was still open! Bless their hearts.  We snagged a much needed cup of coffee, and headed back to the house.

Ant prepped some food, while I updated our heart garland!  The winter colors came down, and the spring went up!  About that time everyone showed up.  We learned that a 20 lb. ham is a little excessive for 7 people…but otherwise dinner went off without a hitch!  I loved having everyone together at the house:  everyone's been so busy, it was nice that we could all just relax and enjoy each other's company.  It was also fun to allow our parents to relax and just enjoy dinner - we had it covered!  {Disclaimer: His parents brought appetizers & my parents brought dessert - which was a huge help}

The fireplace with it's spring facelift..

Extra sparkle this time around.  You like??

I look crazy, but my kitchen smells delicious…so there.

My favorite co-host

The presentation.

The men, putting together a log splitter….in the living room.  My life.

The ladies - missing Ally!!!! 

The best part of hosting the holiday?  We're already home!! Once everyone finished dessert and headed home…we just had to do a little cleaning and voila!  Ready for R&R with my favorite guy.

How was your Easter?  Do you have a Easter Sunday family tradition?  I'm looking forward to continuing to evolve our holidays with our family and friends - and creating new traditions as a married couple!