Back in April my dear friend, Charlene, and I drove up to Connecticut and made a quick stop by our storage locker so that I could pick up Easter decorations. In the course of getting to the necessary tubs we had to move several boxes of Christmas decorations. Charlene commented on how many decorations we have and I told her that I used to fill a 2,800 square foot house with all this stuff and I wasn't ready to part with it yet. She said that she would have loved to have been invited over to our apartment for Christmas to see what we had done with the place over the holidays. I have been to K and Charlene's house countless times over the last three years for holidays, birthdays, and gatherings. They have a beautiful three story brownstone with plenty of room for entertaining and they are extremely generous with hosting things. When she said that I felt bad that we have never invited them over for dinner.
As Easter and Passover approached I was thinking about inviting Cameron's boyfriend's family over for an evening. The kids have been dating since June and they have had us over at least four times for dinner. I was considering inviting them over for a holiday meal, but I thought twice about it because I wasn't sure that a family of five would have fun in the tight quarters of our apartment. They have converted three apartments into one unit and have done a beautiful job of designing a great living space for their family.
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| Jeff relaxing on the Saturday morning after our party. |
When we first moved to New York City we only lived three blocks from Cameron's school. Cameron often invited a group of 4 to 6 six kids over after school to play PlayStation Dance Dance Revolution. That apartment was tiny and when I would walk in the door the humidity from their body heat made my hair frizz, but they seemed to be having a great time and seemed un-phased by the lack of floor space. I loved that she felt comfortable inviting friends to our humble abode and I think her hospitality won her a great group of friends. I decided to take her lead and have the dinner party.
Not only was I going to invite the Charlene's family I decided to invite Cameron's boyfriend's family as well. In total there would be six adults and six kids. Now I was looking at the apartment with a critical eye. If we used an ottoman and a desk chair we would technically have enough seats for everyone to sit on to eat. Luckily we have 20 foot ceilings so the room is deceptively large. I was hoping no one would notice the actual lack of square footage.
For weeks before hand I fussed over the upholstery and the shabby coffee table, while Jeff poured over cookbooks trying to decide what to prepare for a diverse group of connoisseurs. Our plan was to disguise the small space with smoke and mirrors (nice décor and good food).
By the evening of the dinner we had spruced up an old chair with the help of a Pinterst home reupholstering video, bought a new coffee table, and Jeff prepared a delicious meal that satisfied the pallets of the carnivores, locavors, and vegetarians among us. When the guest all arrived naturally the kids all converged on one side of the room and the adults on the other, so we ate and chatted separately. Around 9:30 p.m.as things were winding down the kids decided that a group game of Running Charades would be a good idea. Two teams are given the same list for charades and the team to complete the list first wins. Obviously the teams need to be in separate rooms for this to work. Next thing I know a group of six were heading down to my bedroom.
I had cleaned my bedroom (thank God), but it was not in "come in and sit on my bed" condition, and yet, that is exactly what we did. It was one of those situations where I had to just let go. My team (in the bedroom) was having fun and laughing and I don't think anyone was considering the fact that my curtains could use a good wash or that the pictures on the dresser were in need of being dusted.. One of the kids did ask to use the downstairs bathroom, which I had not cleaned for guest, but all he mentioned was that he was curious about what was in a box labeled "Halloween and Anime Costumes", but he did not mention the toothpaste in the sink.
The games lasted until around 11:00 and then everyone headed home. Besides the kitchen counters getting overwhelmed with dishes the house held up under the extra bodies in the rooms. As I was cleaning up I was really glad that we had decided to throw caution to the wind and have a party. I thought about a book club meeting I'd been to in a gorgeous home in Evergreen. The house was huge, but did not feel warm. I thought that if nothing else, our apartment felt warm and that's really what you want people to feel.
When we first moved here I told Cameron that EVERYONE has a tiny apartment, which was actually the opposite of the truth. We don't know anyone with a particularly small apartment, but in our defense the people we know have all lived in New York for the past 20+ years and have pioneered through apartment additions, extensive waiting list, and weathering what used to be rough neighborhoods. I often think that we are the only family we know that is managing life in a small space, but I can't let that stop us from opening up our house and sharing our home.
