Hunkering down to start my holiday cooking marathon. My list is rather ambitious, which is no surprise. Then I have to go and throw something random into the mix – like chicken pot pie for lunch today for no reason other than I’m hungry for chicken pot pie. I cooked the filling last night, and will reheat and give them a go in my pie maker. I think they will turn out great.

I have come to the conclusion that I am a party-giver, not a party-goer. It’s not that I’m anti-social, I’m just more comfortable hosting and feeding a crowd than hanging around.  After all, I’m not much on sitting still.
But there is nothing party-givers love more than those who love to go to parties. After all, it wouldn’t be much of a party if there were no guests!

Today I’m giving away a copy of Ina Garten’s latest cookbook, Make it Ahead. To throw your hat into the ring, you just need to answer one little question:
Are you a party-giver or a party-goer? Or, more simply put – Hostess or Guest?
If you’d like to throw in a hostess (or guest) tip, feel free to share.
I have one simple hostess tip for you that I picked up from my friend Tiffany the Tipsy Artist. It was so simple yet smart, and I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it earlier.

Boxed wine is great for parties, however wine in a box doesn’t exactly look chic. To class up your look put the wine in glass carafes, refilling as necessary. I found great carafes at the restaurant supply for less than $6 a piece! This is where you want to go for wine glasses too. You can buy an entire case for what a set of decent ones will cost at a kitchen/department store. Plus they are very durable and dishwasher safe.
If I look a bit tired today, keep in mind that amid all this madness school is out and Mason had a friend stay over last night. I kept telling them that it isn’t a slumber party unless there’s some slumbering going on but they just looked at me like I was some old crazy woman. And now I’m a very tired, old, crazy woman now verging on cranky!