All the hype. All the planning. All the preparing.
And the harvest party is over in an evening...
Everything is put away. Everything's all cleaned up.
Right down to the dust on my boots.
I guess I can get started on planning next year's party. ;)
Some last mental notes:
- Apple pies make excellent thank-you gifts. The receiver will quickly put it in a very safe place for a later, solitary indulgence.
- When the neighbors call the next morning to tell the barn owner that the party had awesome music, well, that's music to my ears.
- Make sure you bring more water cups than you think you need.
- Move the hymn sing to an earlier slot in the party schedule; more people could participate in a really cool part of the evening.
- Spreading out all the working/decorating load over the course of a couple of days is genius. I don't think that I've ever been so relaxed before hosting a party as I was this year.
- Take a mallet to hammer in signs. (But you don't 'mallet a sign.' You 'hammer.' Mallet isn't a verb... That's my defense anyway) My brother almost broke his hand from hitting it with the hammer, yet he danced all evening and didn't complain at all. I guess you could see him grimace every time there was a left-hand turn...
- A change of shoes would be a good idea. Especially since the boots aren't completely broken in yet. ;)
- Clustering the paper lanterns in 'strategic' places makes a much more festive atmosphere, instead of putting them all up all over the place. Then you feel like you're being smothered with paper lanterns.
- Flapjack flipping is hard. Next time you make pancakes, you can see how far you can flip those goobers with a pie pan. It's harder than it seems. Chickens love the leftovers.
