It's been a bit of a long while since I have gotten a Christmas tree or done any decorating for Christmas. For many years from the first year I moved to New York City, I had a Christmas tree all the time and had holiday parties and decorated and cooked special things, but for a number of years now I might do something like make Christmas Stollen or Christmas Dinner, I might make a pie or cookies, I might travel somewhere to share holidays with friends or family, but to go all out the way I used to do is something that for a number of reasons I stopped doing.
I used to throw big parties all the time, for every holiday, my birthday and sometimes just because I felt like it. But it's been a while since I've done that, and somehow I haven't missed it at all. There's a lot of work that goes into parties, and I always threw great ones with great food and fun and music and festivities, and my home was always filled with people, sometimes to the point that I didn't even know everyone there. I really enjoyed being that person who everyone was always talking about my parties and the food I made and the fun they had, but at some point it seemed much nicer to have smaller events with just a few friends and to go somewhere else and leave the work of preparation and cleanup to someone else to do.
But then a few years ago I began to host art events again, along the way that I used to, and it began to be something that I really enjoyed. I was partnering with a particular Chef at the time who made the events much easier on me, and then when we began partnering on the Love & Plenty events I was able to work with a wonderful Sommelier too. Little by little I found myself throwing more parties again, and now that YES Gallery has been off to a wonderful start for a few months now, I've been planning not only the openings but special events in between.
This coming Monday, to celebrate the holidays and a very special day in my life, I'll be throwing another party at YES Gallery. This time it will be a little more ambitious, with a wine pairing and foods featuring white truffles, and several courses of light bites for people to enjoy. The Chef who I had partnered with before is traveling now, but miraculously a Chef appeared to help me at the gallery. I had met him a few months ago after the gallery had opened, and he told me that he wanted to find someone to partner with to do community art and wine and food events. I had already been discussing art and wine events at the gallery with my Sommelier friend, and we had been thinking of possibly doing pairings with light food, and so now here we all are, getting ready for Monday's event which is in it's own way not only exciting but also something that is bringing back so many memories and also reminding me that this is part of all of my dreams from the past coming true.
As I began to decorate the gallery, all of the old decorations I've had for years just seemed to fit right in as if they'd been patiently waiting for me to find a place to let them shine again. Each one is so special, and being able to decorate in this way again is one of the most beautiful experiences I've had in these years since I was born again. There have been lots of beautiful times in these years, so I don't say that lightly, but there is something about the joy of having a space where I can invite people in and decorate windows and vistas for eyes to see and be inspired by that brings me back in time to being a young child at Christmas time and also to my earliest years in New York.
I still have all of the decorations from my first Christmas in my first apartment in the city, and some others that I've collected over the years. On Monday I'll be celebrating 17 years since I was born again, and the miracle of Christmas and all that God has done in my life since then. Having this beautiful space at YES Gallery to have a special party in, and the people to help me make it a truly wonderful one is a birthday gift made for a princess, and it's a blessing beyond anything I could have ever hoped for in my wildest dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment