robinsnest | Nothing says Christmas like plaid

I miss reading everyone's post-event wrap ups...So I'm gonna try and be good and write one.

New Castle DE does a spirit of Christmas with a ball on Friday night and several teas on Saturday. After a recon mission last year with

miss_philomena and

mandie_rw we decided we definitely wanted to go this year. peeking through the windows had revealed that the space the hold the ball in was relatively small so 1830s was voted in to avoid the extra space of hoops.

It was a delightful morning of sleeping in late and leisurely packing. Got down there around 3:15 as dropping the dog off took longer than expected. We picked up

hiraimi on the way so I was already feeling festive when we rolled into town.

miss_philomena her husbutt and

blackcat452 had already checked in and

mandie_rw was unloading her car. We stayed at the Terry House B&B which was a sweet Victorian building with a few old house..quirks...not standing up straight in the garret, not having heat in that room. But overall the food was charming, but availability of tea whenever you wanted it and the delightfully tacky decor more than made up for that to me.

Spirit of Christmas and the Fezziwig ball 2017

No we definitely weren't sewing when there.....

jennylafleur rolled in right when the pizza arrived and the party officially commenced! There was much giggling getting ready as we enjoyed doing ridiculous hair and the absurdity of the sleeves...My favorite was Amanda chimming in from the bathroom as the voice from afar.

The ball started at 7:30 and we skated in right on the nose (the 2 min walk from the B&B definitely helped. I was really impressed when we were ushered up stairs that the first woman who saw us proclaimed it was the 1830s and she'd never seen it done so well! Major props for recognizing the less well known era. The ballroom IS in fact quite small and the grand march was done in two groups so we waited and munched at the buffet while waiting our turn.

Had I realized food was going to be there (and free booze) I wouldn't have eaten so much pizza. OH WELL learned for next year. I danced more than I have at any other ball. Probably partially as the more I go to the more I feel comfortable with, and partially because everyone was friendly and welcoming and it felt...acessible somehow. That said it wasn't PHYSICALLY accessible all the time as it was very crowded. They should raise the price $5 and invite 10 less people and it'd be much better. As there were at least two dances Amanda and I wanted to do and couldn't physically fit. That said there are very few pictures form the ball, just couldn't take any while people danced easily.

Saturday I woke up a little before 8 feeling like I'd slept in and tottled down to breakfast. I was shocked that the girls in Rm 7 had their hair mostly done already! Overachievers. Once again

jennylafleur was kind enough to help with my hair AND lend me

tayloropolis jewlery. I wore my Christmas dress from last year and Rob wore the exact same thing. (He wasn't supoosed to wear his plaid pants to the ball...but it's so rare he asks to wear a costume specifically so when he really wanted to wear it both days I wasn't going to tell him no.

we bundled up and headed to tea. I must say there's something SO FUN about wearing all the layers, and furs and bonnets.

mandie_rw made my AMAZING bonnet and leant me the "fur tent" which was much appreciated as it was toasty warm. I need to make one like it.

Did you know taking selfies with people in bonnets is hard!?

The tea was a sweet event, kind of unremarkable in the grand scheme of things. pretty miss-matched china. solidly average tea sandwichs and pots of hot water with bagged tea. *shrug* had better, had worse, was mostly just fun to be with my friends. But I took zero photos at it so clearly it wasn't ear shattering.

we managed a group photo before losing

blackcat452 who had a family event. We went to a house tour and then lost Jenny-Rose who had to drive the farthest home. The remainder of our party went to a few more house tours had a late lunch and headed home.

All in all it was a delightful trip with wonderful people. I look forward to doing it next year and hoping more people chose to join us.