One night down, one to go

Last night went well, I think. We had a ton of people (especially from Virginia Beach--yay Virginia Beach!). Everyone was so nice and complimentary and grateful for us opening our home. It was very sweet. Haley and her friends played the clarinet. Hannah and her friend made cookies in the kitchen with the help of Chris's mom. The boys kind of ran around and a friend took them for dinner to get them out for a while. Nothing caught on fire (lots of candlelight, sometimes that's a tiny issue), which was good. At one point in the evening, though, I looked up at one of the mantles and there was a beer can up there (placed by my husband earlier when he was doing some last minute decorating), so that was kind of hilarious. Oh, and we set up a little bar on the landing upstairs (and we made some cider) for our friends who stood around and welcomed people and directed traffic. At one point, I heard a couple cry out, so I went to the bottom of the staircase. Chris had been upstairs (right over their heads because of the way the railing on the landing curves around). He had opened a new bottle of soda, and it exploded, spraying a little soda on the people below. They just laughed, thank goodness, but it was really funny. Then, this fun group of women down from Norfolk said they really needed a glass of wine, so we opened a bottle for them, and they sat at the counter in the kitchen for a while. It was hilarious.

But I am exhausted and I have no voice. I'm lying here in bed thinking of all the things I need to do (like replace all the candles, etc.). Chris is a saint. He went to McDonalds for breakfast for all the kids (we had a few extras last night, if you can imagine such a thing). At any rate, I was thrilled to see some of you last night and look forward to others of you tonight. It's worth the effort, I think, to see all the amazing houses on the tour this year. And it's worth the price of the ticket to see my house clean! ha ha

Thank you for all your e-mails and notes of encouragement this week. You guys are the best. xoxox