And then there is The Guest List...

The Guest List.

It's one of those ongoing sorts of tasks that really isn't complete until the last minute. Or at least until 72 hours before The Event -- which is when we have to have our final count into the reception hall.

Well, not exactly. You think you have it, but there are always those people that either don't come at the last minute who said they were -- or those who do show up but whose RSVP was "lost in the mail" -- or those who bring Great Aunt Hortense who is visiting from Montana and simply LOVES a good party!

The numbers are rather amorphous right now, though I've noticed that Torrey and I have a bit of a disconnect on the actual number of attendees. She's thinking casts of thousands -- I'm hoping the immediate family and some hardy friends will make it to Illinois in December!

Conventional wisdom says that probably one third of those invited won't come. But is conventional wisdom taking into account (a) the probability of snow in December, (b) the Christmas season and (c) that over half the invited guests are from Indiana??? That's not like just driving across town to attend this event.

So, I'm not sure how to figure it....should we invite more, thinking less will come (more is less? less is more?), or should we start paring down the list trying to get it to a slightly more reasonable number. Currently we are at Torrey's Cast of Thousands. Well, almost.

So then, who do you invite? There are dear friends that live so far away it really isn't practical to invite them. But you wish they could come. And there are those who will be celebrating with us -- though they are in heaven -- like all four of Torrey's grandparents, and Chris' grandparents and mom and dad. BTW, today would have been my mother's 89th birthday. Happy Birthday, Lao Lao!

Such a dilemma. But when all is said and done, the ones you invite are the ones you are meant to invite -- and the ones that come are the ones that are meant to be there.

Our Tim spent a semester in Sevilla, Spain a year or so ago, and one of his adventures took him to Morocco for 24 hours. (There are some things that you are quite grateful that you don't learn until well after the fact). Somehow they ended up at a Moroccan wedding -- which apparently goes on for several days, and to which everybody and anybody is invited. Tim and his three friends were the only Americans at this particular wedding -- they had a most wonderful time drinking glasses of mint tea, eating and dancing. Obviously the mother of the bride wasn't concerned about who did and did not RSVP. And I doubt they were worrying about how many places were set at the table, and if the caterer was charging per plate or not. It was truly a party for the entire town.

So, if you aren't doing anything on December 3 -- we're having a celebration!