Peacock Lane Happy Hour

Since this will be our final Christmas in the Laburnum Bungalow, we decided to go out with a bang. Our last big party would be our Happy Hour: Family Edition Peacock Lane. As mentioned in years past, Mr. W's friends started rotating home hosted HHs after everyone began breeding. Most of these events have fallen by the wayside, but since I like to keep Advent and decline most party invitations before Christmas officially begins, it is nice to host this gathering.
I out together the same menu of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I always like to have American cheese on sourdough bread and the more grown up option this year was Swiss & Gruyere on whole wheat.I used the MS Creamy Tomato Soup recipe and had just enough oregano in the garden. I serve it in mugs since everyone is mingling.
Mr. W made another batch of eggnog and this time we used the silver punch bowl, it is so festive I think. We also had coffee and people could choose how they spike it. I made hot chocolate for the children.
This is also a good time to put out all the Christmas cookie we receive. I don't know why eeryone else being on a diet means that Mr. W and I want to take all the leftover sweets, but somehow this is how our family and friends treat us. I bought the peppermint bark during my escaped to Costco for Baby Boy's birthday and the saltwater taffy from our pre Christmas trip to Arch Cape. My mother in law sent the cookies and the fruit cake. Mr. W loves fruit cake!Since My Little Helper's birthday falls before the school year begins I thought it would be nice to invite his new pre-school friends to our HH:FE. Several of them came which was nice since they are on a 2 week winter break. The nursery was a mad hose with all the children and the new toys!!
Having the party on St. Stephen's Day means that lots of people are still out of town for the holidays, but we wanted Mr. & Mrs. L and Mr. & Mrs. HG to be able to visit with people before they left town.
Shortly after dusk we bundled up all the children, filled the travel mugs, configured the strollers and headed out on our walk to Peacock Lane. With a large group like this, it is always hard to keep track of everyone while looking at the Christmas lights, but we are able to meet back up again before returning home. I was a little disappointed that several of the houses did not have their lights on, but it was still a special block for the children to walk down and enjoy the season.