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When I was a kid my mom used to always hold “Holiday Open Houses”. Â Basically this meant that for a week she was a stress case and that on a Sunday close to Christmas she would invite every person that she’d ever met to share in some holiday cheer.
I never really understood the point. Â I think I mostly hated cleaning up for the party. Â My point was always the same. Â “Why are we cleaning up for these people, this isn’t normally how are house looks. Â We should show them how it really looks.”
I believe this is where my mom’s now infamous line “I’m on my last fuse!” originated. Â And we haven’t let her forget it.
Since moving to Calgary I have gone through a lot. Â Well actually, probably no more than a normal 25 year old, but when you are doing it so far from it home, it just seems that much harder.
So this Holiday season I wanted to celebrate. Â I wanted to celebrate every thing, new jobs, new friends, new babies, new houses, new Visa bills, new neighbors.
So against everything I stood for as a pimply 12 year old, earlier this afternoon I threw my very first “Mike’s Holiday Open House.”
All throughout the week I kept in constant contact with my mom. Â I needed advice, help and money. Â She provided two of those.
After spending way too much money on food, drinks and Christmas decorations, I was a little nervous.  To be honest, I was a little nervous that no one would show up.  But at a little afternoon 12:30 my first guests arrived and they didn’t stop arriving until just before 5pm.  It was amazing………amazingly hot.  You see my apartment is small and wasn’t exactly designed to host a party for 40 people all while the oven is cooking up treats for all the guests to enjoy.  Luckily I cooled my guests down with lots of rum and eggnog and all of the  snacks that were provided by my guests.
Phew.
So here I sit on the evening of my first Holiday Open House. Â Do you know what? Â I think it was a success. Â I think everyone had a good time and the place didn’t end up being all that messy. Â My only regret was that I was so busy running around, I feel like I didn’t get a chance to get beyond a quick chat with everybody. Â But none the less it was so nice that so many people took time out of their busy holiday schedules to swing by and say hello.
So tomorrow when I call to give my mom the full report, I’ll tell her that I finally understand why she had open houses. Â It gives you a chance to see all the people that were the reason that you had a great year in the first place. You get to catch up, you get to see how each other have grown and with any luck you get to spread a little holiday cheer. Â Oh and I also learned those people usually bring wine or chocolate.(14 bottles!)
I’m onto you mom……
