Last night my husband and I went to a birthday party for my father-in-law. The topic of note is punctuality. For the first time, all guest were present at the time listed on the invite. I was so impressed with this group. Everyone was in attendance from the cocktail hour through dessert and it was so pleasant.
I understand the desire to be fashionably late so you are not the first guest and how that usually ends up being unreasonably late because you know everyone else is trying to be fashionably late. However, from the hostess position it can be extremely frustrating. We are talking about the food getting cold or warm (whatever it is not supposed to be), half of the music list playing through and constantly leaving conversations to welcome the newest arrival. (While I think you should talk to every guest, I also think it is so nice to be able to greet everyone around the same time, to prevent the constant excuse of leaving to greet a new guest).
So, I encourage you this holiday season when you are gathering with your friends and relatives to celebrate with one another, be kind and be on-time. In the very least you make the hostess extremely happy, and at the very worst you actually have some quality time to talk with your hosts. In this situation, I like to remember the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland… don’t be late for that very important date, next time you might not be invited back for lack of punctuality.