VVDDP 2020

February is a month of many things but at our home it usually includes a gathering with four other couples. This year we changed things up and had a brunch verses dinner party. Everyone was kind enough to bring food and we enjoyed catching up as usual.

I’ll start with the table decor, it has changed quite a bit since the first few years of our VVDDP. In many aspects of my life I find myself gravitating to the simplier side of things. This year I just grabbed a $20 bouquet of flowers and lit a candle I had at home. We did use nice dishes and glasses, I didn’t go all the way simple with paper plates – just yet! 🙂

Milton and I made mini quiches and kept it simple here as well. The only ingredients were pie crust (store bought), eggs and cheese, I threw some chives in half of them. My best friend Lisa made three types of rolls! Cinnamon, raspberry and then caramel rolls which I love! Another friend showed up with a fruit salad that I myself love to make but haven’t for awhile, it was delish as always. Coffee cake that was nice and soft and perfect with coffee was served by another friend and her partner made some yummy sausage balls! My sister brought what most would call quite necessary! BACON – along with sausage links! Milton and I served Mimosas, coffee, grape juice and water! All my friends that attended can cook very well so when I assigned food I knew no one would be disappointed! The variety of food kept us going back for seconds.

Milton and I decided that our group of friends and us are all very blessed in our lives. So we didn’t give any assignments this year or make them spend time together doing goofy stuff. We chose to help others. We asked everyone to bring food to donate to a food bank. The couple that brought the HEAVIEST amount of food would win a prize. Which was a gift card to a restaurant.

Well the winners came in with 118 pounds of food! They beat out second place that had 80 pounds of food! The winners also got to choose which food bank we would donate to. They chose McPherson Food Bank, so Milton and I will be visiting there this week! 🙂 By the way, although we weren’t competing, ours only came to around 38 pounds! We will have to step up our game next year!

Another twist this year is the party favors for our guests. We (when I say we I really mean me, you know that right?) chose to give each couple a pot of succulents. I found on Etsy a variety of places to order them and ended up going with this one. I was very happy with my purchased. My sweet husband created the “potting soil” mixture for the succulents was well. He’s so handy!

The other part of the gift was also purchased on Etsy and as I was scrolling for ideas found wooden spoons. I had them engraved and very impressed with the seller! We threw in some turtle chocolates and the folks left with something to grow, an utensil to use and some sweets to share! 🙂

The best part of the day is listening to all of our friends tell how their families are doing, what has been happening in their lives and just hugging one another – IN PERSON! It makes me sad that some of them we don’t see but once a year. We let our lives get so busy and forget to reach out to others to plan a coffee date or dinner date or just talk on the phone. I’m so guilty of this. I hope this gathering helps me remember that connecting with others is really essential to staying mentally healthy and continuing to have relationships. Milton and I feel very blessed to call theses folks our friends!