One of My Favorite Days!

It's that time again!  Annual Girl's Christmas Dinner :)  This is one of my favorite days for so many reasons.
Fifth year and we're still going strong.  This dinner started as a way for the girls of my group to separate from their family lives and partners for an evening during the holidays, gather round for good food and wine, and to just ... be.  So important for women to have, as Virginia so eloquently put it, a room of one's own ... or a party of one's own, in this case.
We need this time away.  Away from stress, obligations, kids, expectations, to let down our guards, slow the incessant task lists of our minds, and just be.
Though each year has changed a bit, the theme has always remained the same.  This is our night!

Finally, I'm home and I can host.  A nice and easy menu planned - sweet potato rounds, eggplant parm bites, a brie, some veggies, carrot muffins and veggie bites.  Simmy is bringing a sweet, and Willis and Edub are bringing the grapes.  Small group this year, but that's a nice reminder that it's not about the quantity of friends, but the quality.

Willis, Simmy and I have a tradition of wearing a Bengals hoodie and taking a photo.  It's Willi's turn this year.  I can't wait to see the side by side comparisons of the pictures.

During my meditation this morning, I reflected on the root chakra - that fiery ball of red that sits with my Kundalini spirit and keeps me grounded.  I started considering what it is that keeps me grounded in this life spinning a thousand directions.  Sure, it's my craft and my art, the countless hours I spend tapping truths, or logging miles, lifting heavy.  But it's also my soul sisters, these girlfriends who have been around for yes and no, ugly dress phases and I'm-working-so-I-haven't-showered-in-a-week phases.  These women are my ground, my root.  Thank you :)