2017.14 Party To-Do list

I meant to post this last week, but you know, whatevs.

Thursday night here was what I was really, REALLY needing to focus on

45 Christmas trees of various sizes for party decorations.

A way to serve blue cheese, pear, walnuts and honey that retains the flavors, doesn’t turn brown, and still looks appetizing at the end of the evening.

Gift bags filled with candy for the children

Christmas games (because sometimes children and young teens left without something to do equals disaster)

Did I mention 45 trees? I have to make those trees, they don’t make themselves.

Christmas coloring books and crayons.

Cookie press cookies, (meaning find the press, find the Scotty dog disc because it’s always missing, and then find the recipe. I have one that always works, but I can never find it) Then make the cookies.

45 Christmas trees. What was I thinking?

trees trees trees

Also, I needed to find a cookie recipe for Matthew. My cookies 3 ways works, but we didn’t get jelly for the thumbprint cookies, or Hershey kisses for the ones with those. So maybe cookies one way? Where you just roll them in colored sugar? 

Alcohol, when I am going to get to the store for party alcohol?

45 Christmas trees, it is no wonder I need alcohol.

Plus, I still have more day drinking and crafting projects. I may wind up doing a double header…

And lastly, finish the 45 trees.

Will I ever get it all done?

A helping hand.

How do you know when you need help? Sure when you are dangling from a cliff by the tips of your fingers you need help but how about when you started down the trail? Or when you got the edge of the cliff to look over? Or when you leaned out to take the perfect selfie? At any point someone could have stepped in and given you some help before it was too late.

If you read the blog, or know me at all you have hear me mention our friend Heather.  We know Heather from college, she was in many of my Spanish classes with me, and she and Kat had many we should be studying giggle fests.  After College Heather moved to Austin, but in 2001 she moved back to OKC and became a more or less constant part of our lives.  In fact, when I was traveling for work most of 2010 and 2011 Heather stayed with us and was a huge help to Kathleen.

But this is not about that.  This is about party prep 2009.  It was bitterly cold, the Friday before the party and I had reached the “This house will never be ready” stage, Kat was at “No one is coming and there won’t be enough food!”  About noon there was a knock on the door, and there was Heather.  “I thought you could use some help.”

The thing is, very few people can help.  It isn’t easy to step into the kitchen with Kathleen and work alongside her without being more in her way than helpful. But Heather is one of those people.  We had lunch, then Kathleen and Heather rolled truffles, and bonbons, made cookies, and that last minute batch of fudge. Sometime before dinner Heather was the angel that helped our tired brains figure out what serving dishes we needed to serve the food for the party, and cleverly labeled them with post its to avoid confusion.   She worked tirelessly, and was in such good spirits and so quick to laugh, it made the work enjoyable.  The later it got Heather even said she had her nightgown in the car and could take a catnap on the couch so we could get an early start, but thankfully, with her help we wound down around 2am. 

Heather is back in Owasso where she grew up. With her family, who, I am sure, are delighted to have her there.  I don’t completely hate her family for that, Just maybe a tiny bit.  You see there have been so many times this week as we are crazy preparing for things that someone has said, “That’s a Heather thing,” only to realize someone is going to have to suck it up and do it ourselves.

When I tell Heather that she is our favorite, I might not be kidding.

Not a Christmas Party Picture

Sweet Baby Cheeses

If today is the 15^th and I have only posted 10 entries this month that means I am 5 days behind? Yikes.  Matthew was just asking me to watch a YouTube video from Lady Leshurr (Queen’s speech Ep. 1-4) and I told him I needed to work on the blog, he told me to blog on my own time.  On. My. Own. Time? Not to get all LL Cool Jay with him, but Mama said knock you OUT!  When is it my own time around here?!?  I sit down to blog, then I get up and check on Paul and make sure he’s getting ready for bed.  Then I sit back down, only to jump up and help Kat wrap caramels.  I go back to the blog and Matthew needs something for his cough.  I try and go back to the blog and then Kat needs someone to find packaging for the rum truffles.  I go back to the blog, and Paul can’t sleep and needs someone to scratch his back.  My own time, indeed.

Not that I am complaining about these other diversions, because I love my family and I am grateful for every minute I have with them, but honestly My Matthew’s sass mouth? It must come from his mother.

What are your families special holiday traditions?  Things your family does that mean holidays to you?  Tonight was a very special night for my family; the traditional party shopping trip. I don’t think anyone loves to go to Sam's Club, and I am not saying I do, but there is something fun about the whole family shopping for our party together.  It is a highly organized goal driven team exercise.

We walk into Sam’s with a list. This list is very specific and it is important to note that we never deviate from this list. Ever.  So tonight brie was not added to the list, and neither was tzatziki dip.  We also never get tempted by the people sampling things.  So it was not Paul you saw with the pretty girl sampling lotions and creams that are safe for his eczema skin.  Definitely not.

It is important to note that Kat and I are very specific when we make the shopping list.  We try every year to come up with a balanced menu and some years certain food items get culled in the spirit of a cohesive, thoughtful, balanced menu.  No one ever ignored the menu and just tosses a 20 lb ham in the cart because he likes ham and thinks we should have it at the party. *Cough* Matthew *Cough*.

Thriftiness is also a valued part of our tradition. This is why someone spent 25 minutes with 3 members of Sam’s management tonight discussing the disposable plate options.  While I appreciate some of the high end options, I needed them to understand that 33 cents a plate is on the pricey side and that people will use multiple plates.  It took them a while, but after I gave them an unbiased opinion of their ugly 8 cents per plate option they helped me come up with an option that I didn’t hate that meets my standards. (Let’s not even have the discussion of why we are using disposable plates when we own a sufficient amount of party sized holiday plates, unless you want tears and loud words. You come up with a way to transport 260 dirty party plates home and wash them in an apartment sink).

You know what else says Holiday Tradition to my family? The phrases “Do people even like celery? I don’t, so I just assume other people use it as means to eat dips and stuff” “Just put the Brie in the cart, woman” “Is 18lbs of meatballs enough? Do we need 24lbs? Maybe 30lbs?” “Why is it taking him so long to find the crackers, they are right there, I can see them from here!” as well as the inevitable “Oh crap we forgot…”

So while we are already home working on the list of stuff we still need, I did enjoyed our evening at Sam’s and the traditional hot dog dinner.  Merry Merry.

An Eighteen to remember. . .

Christmas Party Memory

Last night was our annual Christmas party. It was good. It was smaller than the last few years, with a slightly simpler menu but good nevertheless. I wish you could have been there.

Every year when we do our menu there are certain items that get left off the list from previous years. Sometimes it is a matter of time, sometimes no one ate it last year so why bother, and sometimes it is one of those ‘how much is too much situations?’

Last year I ran out of minutes to make the cookie press cookies. Kat assured me that no one would notice amidst all the other abundance of other cookies. Then Christmas eve Kristi Swinney said, “you know the other night at the party I was looking for those cute Scottie dog cookies and I couldn’t find them.” I hate to let people down.

One of the more recent additions to the menu is those tiny bonbell cheeses. I call them baby cheeses and serve them from a pretty silver bowl and then I say things like, ‘it is Christmas, you need baby cheeses’ or ‘let's not forget baby cheeses is the reason for the season.’ I know, it is horribly inappropriate. In my defense I stole the idea from my fake sis Jen-O. When Jen brought her sainted mother to last year’s party, Miss Shirley laughed so I figure it isn’t off the charts bad, right?

As we were setting up yesterday I was thinking to myself, at least this year with so many new guests, no one will ask about something I left off the list. Only then Elijah, who is 11 says “hey where are those little cheeses in the wax? Those are my favorites. What do you mean off the menu? Are you kidding me? MAN! What kind of party is this?!?!?”

I just can’t win sometimes.

Bells will Fifteen-ing

Holiday Entertaining

This time of year you can see in magazines or on TV that everyone seems to have entertaining tips to share. In the spirit of the season I thought “hey I know about entertaining, I could give some pointers.” So here we are with today’s blog.

According to Martha and Sandra Lee and countless others the table or ‘table-scape’ is a great way to spice up your house during the holidays and up the wow factor when entertaining. Would you be surprised to know that I am largely responsible for our fabulous table setting at our parties? It is true. No really it is. Stop laughing. Do you think that after Kat has spent hours cleaning the housing and making all that delicious food and candy that she honestly really cares what plates go where? Or what food goes on what plates?

Last year our party goers oohhed and ahhed about the “tower of truffles” that was at the center of the table last year. “It is so pretty, how did you ever think of something like that?” we were asked, and we just smiled and nodded. The truth? It is all about real estate, when you have as much food as we do every year, you have to be creative or it won’t all fit on the table. A tower of truffles combined a cut glass Christmas platter, a silver and glass cake stand and a 3 tiered silver serving dish stacked on top of one another to eliminate the need to have 5 silver bowls and a plate or two side by side taking up space. Take that Martha!

Another secret to our great table set up? We have a bajillon serving platters. How did we end up with so many? We don’t throw anything away. For years my mom re-gifted us with Christmas platters or tarnished silver bowls. We put them away and then shine them up and use them at the party. Kat used to get little mikasa bowls or candy dishes as gifts from her office mates when she worked out of Children’s Hospital in OKC. We put M&M’s in them and people ooh and ahh. Friends buy us plates to use, and Kat’s parents have hooked us up a few times too.

I have talked about my silver punch bowl? (eBay with a dent on the side). Do you know where our glass punch bowl came from? Wal-Mart, 1992. It cost me $5.99 and came with 8 punch cups. I have been picking up the rest of the punch cups at garage sales and thrift stores for about 50 cents a cup for the last 18 years or so.

I could talk about table cloths and table runners and things like flowers or holiday decorations on the table, but you know what really says festive? Covering the table with delicious food. What I know about table cloths is that if I have three tables of food, the table cloths should be the same color on each. Or if I only have two that are the same color then the round table for the punch needs to get a plaid table cloth that has some of the colors. Table runners we have, and sometimes use, but once all the food is on the table who knows if I used one or not. Although, if the table cloth has a stain or a hole, a table runner is good for covering that up. That thing where people put a big bowl of decorations on the table or candles or flowers? Do you know what that really is? It is people who are too lazy to cook enough food and think that hungry party goers will be distracted from the empty space and not wonder how come no one thought to add another plate of cookies.

You also see in those entertaining guides stuff about gift bags for party goers. For years I have been doing up a little gift bag for the kiddies to take home with them. You know what is in those gift bags? Left over Halloween candy and a handful of starlight mints. One year I also included a happy meal toy from the unholy pile that my Matthew had been hoarding in his closet.

With great tips like these I wonder why I don’t have a book deal?

Party Menu

Every year for our party we have a plan. An actual menu where we plan out in advance what goodies we will serve. It starts off as a balanced menu of sweet and savory so that there is something to satisfy everyone. The plan is always in place to not attempt anything too over the top, or too labor intensive, and to be sure that there is enough food, but not so much that people are overwhelmed. Well the plan starts that way. I swear it does.

Last year we started the menu in October. What was good the year before? What did no one eat? What was too complicated? What should have been warm but was cold, what needed to be cold but got warm? What looked gross at the end of the night? We came up with a well balanced, achievable menu.

Then we had cookie day at Kristin’s, and someone made these key lime crescent cookies. Now the crescent part was really hard, but the cookies were delicious. I thought maybe balls would be easier than crescents. So that was added to the menu. It was just one more thing.

Kat saw a shrimp ring at a work event and thought how easy that would be. I mean, really? It’s just shrimp, and cocktail sauce. People love it. So that was a second thing.

Paul was sitting on the couch and noticed the list. “Is this the party menu?” He sat down and went through it. “I don’t think there is enough food for a big crowd. We should serve a ham. Ham is very festive for a party”. So Paul added ham to the menu.

Matthew took his turn with the list. “I am sure that there is not enough food Mama, did you forget the tiny tomatoes with cheese and the basil? Gramma still has fresh basil! That is a good one Mama, people love it.” So Matthew added this to the list.

And one thing led to another, and the next thing you know there is 2 hours of setting out food, and not enough table space for all of it. I had to set out trays of cookies on the coffee table to make room for the food on the table

No one goes home hungry at our house!

This year, however, we have really pared the menu down and things will be under control. I mean 16 flavors of fudge is control right? 2 kinds of mice? Maybe only 3 (or 4) kinds of cookies? Definitely under control.

Party Day Memories

Last year I made the comment that I would tell the story of the one year someone brought something not up to party standards. I did not because Kat suggested that someone would take it as a challenge and we would have to deal with that again. I know that people suspect that it is all me with the silver platters and the pretty cookies and the plan of what food goes where. Ok, so it is me mostly, but Kat started it.

So yes, one year a friend brought tuna fish sandwiches on a paper plate. “Wow!” was the only thing I could think to say, and Kat followed up with “You shouldn’t have”. And really, it would have been better if they hadn’t. But worse than the paper plate on Kat’s table of delicious goodies, was that people ate them. Toddler year old Paul helped himself to one, but spit it out.

Other food mishaps are the years that we discover after the party is over that we neglected to put out food we had prepared. The first year Kat made tapenade it never made it to the table. The same is true of the feta red pepper artichoke dip. Last year we made a sharp cheddar chasse ball that was to be served with the green chile pineapple jelly, but Kat put the jelly on cream cheese instead. The cheese ball did NOT melt into queso very well at new years.

Do you like apple cider? Do you really? I ask because in 2001 no one drank it. But that may be because someone neglected to put a ladle in the crock pot of cider to serve it with. Likewise, no one will eat summer sausage if there is not a knife to slice it with. 1998.

Sometimes people ask how long it takes to clean up afterwards. That question has different answers. In recent years our family; Ann, Christi, Nolen & Elisa plus others have made a real effort to help us clean as we go, so that by the time the party is over and the food is away, much of the cleaning is done. Of course some years it is Valentine’s Day before the clean party dishes are returned to where they spend most the year. And this year, in July, when we were rearranging furniture in the office I found a punch cup. In my defense, it was on the floor between the two trunks I had made a makeshift table from for the Christmas train. I choose to believe that a child left it there, and not an adult who thought it would be interesting to see how long before we found it.