Friday Pot-luck dinner.

We hosted a pot-luck dinner here last night, with friends we've made and neighbors we've met along the way in these hills around our house. We've had small dinner parties before, but never a bring-what-you'd-like pot-luck dinner..... and my husband and I were surprised with last night's success.

Which proves my point about hosting parties-- bring together an eclectic group of people who share just one common thing: having a good time (a sincerely good time, not a boozy good time) and what happens is just that-- everyone comes together and has a good (make that great) evening.

The energy here last night was unbelievable..... you would have thought that all the people here had known one another for years and years and got together on a weekly basis. I had set up tables in the living room, as well as the dining room table, and I thought everyone would just pick a table and enjoy their dinner and visiting with neighbors. The party started in the kitchen even before the foods were served, and then as everyone filled their plates with the home-made food choices, they all got settled into the dining room around the large table, pulling chairs from smaller tables so everyone ended up sitting elbow-to-elbow all through dinner. And no one seemed to mind..... everyone was perfectly content, the conversations never ceased, and at any given time, there were two or three separate conversation threads going around the dining room.

Last night's small dinner (for 12) proves that we can invite still more of the neighbors... and anyone else we meet along the way here.... and what we'll have will be similar to the large parties we used to have in Clear Lake. My husband and I kept thinking that the neighbors here weren't 'party people,' simply because we didn't see them being as sociable as what we were used to in our old neighborhood. I'm guessing now that if people weren't being sociable here, it was only because they had no invitations being tucked into their mail boxes.

Ta-daaah....... I am very good at tucking party invitations into mail boxes. I got a lot of practice with that back in Clear Lake. We will definitely have another pot-luck here.... before the summer is even at its hottest point..... when the S's have unpacked their Pennsylvanian boxes and have settled into their Texas home here--- for good this time, not for just a summer visit. It will be yet another reason for a party... and any excuse will do just fine.