Our First Annual Accounting Friends Christmas Party

Christmastime is our favorite time of year. There are so many wonderful activities. One of our favorites is the Christmas parties. Tonight we had our first annual Christmas party with our friends from the accounting program. We invited a few of our closest friends from the accounting program. We held the party at our apartment so we had to keep it pretty small. To even have enough room for the six people we invited we had to borrow a folding table and chairs from Blake and Debbie. We hid our normal table in our closet so that we would have room for everyone. Holding the party at our apartment gave Alison an opportunity to show off her beautiful tree. This year's tree is truly stunning.

Alison and I are big planners. We initially came up with the idea for our party after one of my inventory counts. I was assigned to count cheese. After the count, the guy I was counting with gave me a bar of gouda cheese. Alison and I enjoyed eating it so much we thought it would be fun to put on a party where we had our friends over to enjoy a nice cheese tray.

We decided we would have hors d'oeuvres and dessert. We made a variety of the hors d'oeuvres and asked our friends to each bring a Christmas-themed dessert. We want to be able to remember the food we had for the next time we hold this type of event. I planned out the cheese tray. We had four different types of cheese - smoked gouda, borsin, sharp cheddar, and pepper jack. The smoked gouda was by far the most popular. It was a huge hit. The pepper jack and borsin were also pretty popular, but the sharp cheddar not so much. We also had a hard salami, which went pretty fast. To go with the cheese tray we had a variety of crackers, sliced baguettes, and crostini. They were awesome. We also bought some Pita cracker things, but when we were setting up we realized it would be a little too much so we didn't put them out. I also made a slow cooker spinach artichoke dip it turned out so good. I would definitely make it again. We had some tortilla chips to go with the dip. For our beverage, we had a cherry-flavored crystal light. Our friends brought marshmallow brownies, chocolate-covered strawberries & pretzels, key lime cupcakes, and wassail. It was quite the spread.

We loaded up the table with all the food and we ate and talked. It was great. We caught up in life - work, school, and families. Now that my close friends and I are all working in public accounting we don't see each other as often as we would like. We also talked about random things we enjoy like podcasts and movies. One of my buddies just finished listening to Serial. This led to a spirited discussion about whether or not we think Adnan is guilty or innocent. Of course, it ended with, and then there's the Nisha call...

Of course, since we are all in public accounting we talk about accounting quite a bit. At one point it was suggested that for the sanity of our spouses we keep the accounting talk to a minimum. Despite that, we just couldn't help ourselves. At one point we were talking about the upcoming Star Wars movie and this sparked a discussion about how to account for the unearned revenue for the ticket pre-sales. As we started laughing about this discussion and then at one point one of our friends blurts out "Debit that!" and we all busted up laughing. It was so funny some people were laughing so hard they were crying, and that just made the rest of us laugh even harder. It is sure good we all love accounting since that is what we do.

Before everyone left we did a white elephant gift exchange. We played a little game and passed around the present. Some of the presents were pretty funny. Although I think Alison and I gave out the best present. Earlier today I went and bought a couple of goldfish and put them in a mason jar. Alison's brother Jake did this the last year for a family white elephant and it was great so we decided to give it a try. It was a big hit. John and Kara were the lucky recipients of Flounder and Bubbles.

CC wanted to eat Flounder and Bubbles

We are so lucky to have such a great group of friends. For as much as we planned and prepared to make the party a success, it is our friends that made it great. I am glad that we were able to take a night out of a busy holiday season to spend time with some of our favorite people. Merry Christmas!