Ho Ho Holiday Party

Judd, Kristy, and I co-hosted a holiday party at my apartment last night for our friends who braved the first big snow storm of the winter - we got almost 11" of snow overnight! Judd looked particularly cute with his festive candy cane tie and green sweater.

It was so much fun to plan and host a party again, which I haven't done since our wedding nine months ago. My sister ordered gorgeous flowers from Alexander Brothers on 87th and Madison, and all of the wine and prosecco came from Bottle and Soul, a relatively new wine store on Lexington Avenue and 81st Street.

I turned the reigns of my kitchen over to Elisabeth Weinberg of Miss Elisabeth's Catering. We were delighted by all of her creations, which included a cheese platter with selections from Artisanal (a cheese lover's paradise!) crudite, nine fantastic hors d'oeuvres (meatball sliders; manchego cheese and chorizo quesadillas; crab cakes with a spicy habanero and lime aioli; pepper-crusted filet mignon with horseradish cream on a garlic crostini; duck confit on a polenta cake; wild mushroom and goat cheese tartlets; lamb merguez sausage "pigs in a blanket" with tsatsiki; mini smoked ham biscuits with cranberry chutney; and potato latkes with smoked salmon, tarragon creme fraiche and caviar), and an assortment of holiday cookies. Everything was excellent and I highly recommend Miss Elizabeth's for any catered event.

Here are some pictures from the party. I had a great time - I really enjoyed seeing my friends all dressed up and meeting some of my sister's friends. The only downside of all that fun (and chardonnay) was how I felt this morning when I woke up with my contacts still in and my apartment in a similar state of disarray.