entertaining 4 easter

we love to entertain

and we figured easter was

the perfect excuse to have a lil

DINNER PARTY 

my favorite part of entertaining is not the cooking--although i can cook, unfortunately i just don't enjoy it. and i definitely don't care for cleaning up--especially now that we don't have a dishwasher!

my favorite part of entertaining...

is trying to set a pretty table.

 i love it. it makes me happy.

i like getting out our best in order to try and make our guests feel special. like using our silver, which is so ornate and lovely--compliments of buddy's mom.

and using our linen napkins, that my parents gave me one year for my birthday. there's something about using linen and spending hours using spray & wash later to make them clean again that says

this is our best,

for you:

ENJOY

and wrapping them in silver monogrammed napkin rings from my best friend kathleen does the finishing touch. adding these to my table immediately dresses it up and makes it look like a lady.

did you notice that all of my favorite things for entertaining are from people we love? that's what makes it extra fun for me, because these things that are merely things have taken on a special meaning to me and i can think of those i love most when i use them.

i adorned the table with these little sweet bird candles (that the kids kept playing with) and then with fresh flowers. since we don't have family here, we invited any of our friends that we knew didn't have family here either. what we didn't expect was that everybody we asked would say

YES

 and some even,

"and do you mind if i bring a friend?"

we were blessed with a total of 20 people in our small apartment. and it was great. and fun. and it seemed that God expanded the small space we have and that He also multiplied the food as well.

and i'm hoping that people enjoyed themselves...that they felt special and welcome and loved. and we know that none of that really has to do with a pretty table--it comes from a place much deeper. i have to say that our 2 little bunnies did a very good job at welcoming everyone and making them feel extra loved: they gave hugs at random and danced for us...it was precious and people left the evening with smiles.

and the best part of all...one of our guests insisted on doing ALL of the dishes...and she said she actually enjoyed doing it.  ah, my dream come true. do my dishes and i'll have you over for dinner any time ;)

hope you all had a happy easter!