Food Parties

If you are friends of mine, you'll already know what a food party is.
Basically it is a house party for grown ups, where I cook a ton of food. I love cooking - it keeps me distracted and I just love it. Plus, even when I am incredibly ill, I can bring a stool into the kitchen and sit while I cook.
I have been hosting food parties at least once a year since I was 18 - nearly 14 years ago.
Sometimes we do pot luck parties where friends bring a dish or two, and I'll still make about 8 different options, but the biggest food parties have included 15 dishes or so - all cooked or baked by yours truly.
Don't get me wrong - I take quite a few short cuts and can't do everything from scratch, but I still love it.
I am nearly always stuck in bed for WEEKS afterwards, it usually costs quite a bit in groceries, and I have even had to make a trip to the hospital from sheer exhaustion and a flare up of several frightening symptoms.

This year we haven't had a food party, and unless I recuperate really quickly after our nuptials, I doubt there will be one.
A year without a food party is insane to me - first time in 14 years!!
In my earlier days - when I still had the energy to work several jobs, play sports, and have a full and exciting social life, I would have 3 or 4 food parties a year. Since being off of work, they now occur once a year, maybe twice if nothing else is going on.

This year - we are getting married!! Eeeee!!
(And that is a food party in and of itself isn't it? Just someone else is doing the cooking...)
On top of trying to plan a wedding - which we are receiving quite a bit of help to organize - we have run into some financial issues.
To make a long story short, there were some miscommunications that occurred - miscommunications admittedly created by someone else - that we are now responsible for. (Trust me - the stress of that alone has been a huge blow).

So with time being scarce, money now being an additional stressor, and my health - which is ALWAYS a colossal obstacle - a food party isn't even on the radar for this year... that is unless I recuperate quickly and manage to organize one for Christmas.

This year has been one for the books.
Somehow, however, we are still both excited for the future and leaning on each other for support. We are both still smiling. And that is something to be intensely proud of.