Party: I hosted my small group Christmas party last night, which is pretty much the same as saying I hosted my church's Christmas party. Lessons learned:

1. The key to hosting a party at your house, when you're leaving for vacation the the next day from work, is planning ahead. I only wished I had started packing Wednesday night, but otherwise, things went really, really smoothly. And I'll come home to a clean house.

2. More snack and appetizer foods, less desserts. The spinach and nachos dips disappeared quickly, and the veggie pizza was gone except for one piece, but there are still plenty of both kinds of brownies left for my housesitter.

3. Never host a party that includes white elephant gift exchanges at your house, especially when you have friends like mine. After everyone left I looked around to gather all the stuff, and as I only found two of the chicken wall hooks that came in a set of four, I'm pretty sure I haven't got it all. Also, be prepared for them to start redecorating, too.