Every year, Eugene and I throw a small party around the holidays. Last year, we invited a few of my Beatle friends over, so this year Eugene picked the guests: some of his friends from vet school who are in the area. Party prep started a few weeks beforehand when we picked out the menu. (Part of the reason we finished our baking so early this year is to have cookies available for our guests.) Earlier in the week, Eugene made the desserts, and I shopped for groceries Thursday night. Then on Friday, I made one of the side dishes, and we both cleaned. (I even used up all of my vacation time to get some things done.) We ran a few errands Saturday morning, but otherwise most of the day was devoted to cooking and cleaning. Here's our menu:
Beverages: Mulled Cider, Chardonnay, a Spanish dessert wine, and coffee
Appetizer: Homemade Lo-Cal Spinach Dip with fresh veggies
Salad: Orange and Almond Salad
Main Course: Lemon-Thyme Cornish Hens
Side Dishes: Cranberry Sauce; Twice-Baked Potatoes, Green Beans with Almonds and Parsley; and Sage, Sausage, and Apple Dressing
Dessert: Homemade Premium Vanilla Ice Cream and Cran-Apple Pie with a Cream Cheese Crust
Despite all this food, we turned out to have only two other guests. (One of the other guests told Eugene ahead of time she might not be able to make it; we think the other didn't come because of the snow.) We still had a good time, though. The conversation ranged from everything from combining utilities to a wedding riddled with problems. After dinner, we showed them some of our wedding proofs and let them pick cookies to bring home. They chose a few from almost every type we made, not surprising when they have three small children. They had to leave around 11:00 because of the babysitter, but I have to admit I was pretty tired by then. Eugene and I managed to get the dishes done before we crashed, though.
Today we slept in late and ran a couple of errands. We were supposed to meet one of my bridesmaids so she could see the wedding proofs, but that didn't work out. Hopefully after I finish this entry, I can get some writing done. I didn't get anything done yesterday and very little on Friday. Part of it is trying to "block" out what to include in Chapter Three now that I'm breaking it up. I want to make sure there's a good hook at the end. Hopefully Jenna will provide me with one.
BTW, I finally took a picture of our crooked half-tree that I described before. It could be worse, couldn't it?
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