My almost-always annual no-tree tree trimming party

Tonight was my tree trimming party, a party I've been giving in one form or another since 1965. I do it because I always thought trimming the tree should be festive and fun, and it wasn't when I was a kid. Nowdays I don't have a tree--never home at Christmas, etc., though I sometimes think I'll get a small table tree and a couple of years I've had really small trees that fit on the coffee table. I've been giving this party since 1965--sometimes a Sunday night, one year desserts only, sometimes at 8:00, tonight at 5:30 so people who had other plans could move on. I like the way that worked and may do it again.
Every fall, about October, I debate whethr or not to have the party, and a howl goes up from some of my friends because that's the only time they see each other. I always end  up having fun at my own party, getting lots of hugs. Many of these people are ones I don't see often, others are part of my daily life. These days, there's a big contingent of family--some direct relations, some by marriage--and there are lots of kids. My brother brings his side of the family which has grown larger than mine, since most of my kids are not close enough to come for an evening. Jordan is a whiz at planning the kids part of the party--pigs in a blanket, pretzels, chips, ranch dip, carrots, and Christmas trees to color. I don't know if any kids ever did color them tonight, but they all seemed to have a good time. The kids were all my grandnieces and grandnephews, one grandson, and two distantly related  by marriaige.
For the adults I served my traditional cheeseball, the one my mom made, liver pate, a caviar spread, cheese with curry that you top with chutney, a cheese ring topped with strawberry jam, veggies and a Caesar dip, persimmon bread, a reuben dip (always disappears).

After the food was put up and the dishes done--I hired a "party angel," a lovely woman who did a great job--I got to thinking about the business of giving a party. It's an expense for my limited budget, no doubt about it, and it's a lot of work, because there's the house to decorate, even with no tree, and I make all the dips and spreads myself and serve wine and soft drinks--no mixed drinks, no beer. Tonight folks drank a case of white wine and almost a case of red. But to me, in some strange convoluted thinking, giving this party is part of staying  young and not growing old, not saying "I can't do the party this year. I'm too old and don't have the energy." That day may come, but I hope not soon.  

As I say every year, in the afterglow of the paty, I'm doing this next year and I begin planning. There just so many people I wish I could invite and don't have room  for because of all those regulars. Hmmmm--next year, caviar dip, liver pate, cheeseball, and some surprises. And Jordan wants those meatballs that are really sausage, cheese, and Bisquick. Okay, not gourmet but good.                                                     

Party Hangover--no,not that kind!

Today, my feet hurt every time I start to walk. After a few steps they're okay, but they're still recovering from last night. Tree Trimming sans tree was a huge success (in my mind, anyway)--about 55 people plus ten little people who for the first time had their own separate buffet (the adults kept eating the pigs in a blanket). My brother's entire family, almost, was here, like a family reunion, though they see each other often. Jordan worried about adults to supervise the children so no child ate too many cookies--no need to worry. There were twice the adults in the playroom as the children. Jacob ate two sugar cookies (sugar high), had so much fun with his cousin Edie, that he was devastated when it was time to go home.
The adults had a good time--many said they look forward to this as their favorite party of the year, and there were compliments on the food, though it was mostly stuff I serve year after year--cheese ball (my mom's recipe), chili-cheese dip, salmon spread, sausage balls, lots and lots of white wine and a bit of red (some of which ended mysteriously on the T-shirt I put on to clean up). The party began at 5:00 and some folks left pretty quickly, for other engagements as I'd anticipated, but others stayed. It finally ended up that Jordan and her friends sat around until 9 or after, and then Jamie was here until almost 11:30 setting up my new, very fast computer (if my typing is off, blame it on a new keyboard to which I'm adjusting). This is the annual time when I see people I don't see very often and see others I see frequently but they mingle with friends they only see here--it's a good, warm, nice time. In her gratitude log today Elizabeth was grateful for a party with lots of friends and lots of laughter--she emphasized the latter. Made me feel good.
I meant to ask Jordan to take pictures but forgot and got none. Oh, well, next year. Bless Susan, who washed dishes while I put leftovers away--without her I'd have been in the kitchen until all hours. Jay contributed by keeping the children amused cutting small paper plates into snowflakes--with the result of little white triangles all over everywhere. Jordan enlisted all the children to clean up the playroom at the end of the evening, although when I asked Edie if she was helping, she looked me straight in the eye and said, "No." Little imp! By the time her daddy took her home, she was one tired puppy.
And so was I. It was midnight before I got to bed. I forgot to feed Scooby until about ten and he was really mad at me, dumped his dish over and ate off the steps, etc. This morning I slept until 8:30 but he refused to go out until almost ten--as though he were saying, "I haven't had long enough in this bed."
So today I'm moving slowly, although the laundry is doing, the house is almost back to normal, and I've written email thank you notes to those who brought hostess gifts--at least those I could identify. A bonus: my brother found a copy of the cookbook our mother put together for the hospital auxiliary--he labeled it a package "From Grandmother" and I've been prowling through it--there I am in print for the first time, with a garlic cheese hot dip written and signed in the roundish writing of a young person: Judy MacBain. Our mom's cheese ball is there, along with lots and lots of names I recognize from my childhood, plus some of my distant aunts' names (in Mom's handwriting) and some anonymous cooking tips from Penelope Jones who was, I happen to know, Mom.
Tonight Jacob will spend the night and then it will be into the busy week as usual. And it looks to be a busy one indeed.

Tree Trimming

Tonight was my annual no-tree tree trimming party. Above you see my Christmas tree (it had a bow on it but Jordan took it back home) and the mantel--that's the kind of decorating I do these days. For years when the children were growing up, we had large and grand Christmas trees, but I always had a party to decorate them. I remember decorating the tree when I was a child was not festive at all, so I decided to turn it into a party. I'd put out all the ornaments and by the end of the evening, the tree was pretty well decorated. Of course, there was the year the tree fell over . . . . These days I'm never at home for Christmas--at one child's house or another--so I don't have a tree, although I put up all the other decorations, and the house looks festive. And I still have the party. This year I changed my routine, had it on Saturday instead of Sunday, and early rather than late. A true cocktail hour party at 5 p.m. About half the invited people couldn't come for one reason or another--illness, other obligations, etc. So there were maybe 35 people, but they ate almost all the food, so it's a good thing the others didn't come. Jacob came in shy, got his self confidence back and raced around the house, charming everyone, and then within two minutes turned sour and tired.
I have a pretty standard menu--every year I fix a caviar spread that I adore and the cheeseball that I remember from my childhood, and then I branch out from there. This year I had a refried bean and cheese dip (forgot to add the Tabasco but no one seemed to mind), a spinach-artichoke-cheese dip, crab and chili sauce on a block of cream cheese, and sausage balls. I have very few leftovers, though I'm glad there's some caviar and cream cheese for lunch tomorrow. For the sweet tooths, I had chocolate squares (all the ingredients of chocolate chip cookies, just put together in an entirely different manner), peanut butter cookies, and a chocolate Bundt cake that is a favorite. Jordan is having a ladies party next week and went home with lots of leftovers, including cookies and cake.
But I am tired tonight. I spent the morning cleaning house--something I rarely do myself. It wears me out and tears up my back, so that I have to sit every once in a while. Jordan came about four, helped me put things out, and did a major portion of the clean-up afterwards, with Christian's help. There are still about three dishes soaking, but I think I'll leave them overnight--something I almost never do. But I'm tired after two big events in two nights, and I'm fighting this cold. I think I've been staving it off by sheer will power all week. I decided I might collapse tomorrow, but then thought that was a bad attitude. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep.
Oh, and the washing machine quit today. With a wet rug in it. I opened the back door to wring it out (which I couldn't--it was a shag bathroom rug and too heavy to wring), and the dog ran in, the cat ran out, and I had a mess on my hands. The repairman is due Tuesday--I am so tired of servicemen who are to appear between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
I'm reading a manuscript, a memoir really but structured around the houses the writer has lived in. Since I'm a real house person, the idea fascinates me. I know I am defined by my house--built in 1922, decorated as my mother would have done (no decorator for me, although a good friend did the original planning), filled with old furniture and things I love but not, I hope, overcrowded.

The holiday season

I thought I'd post a couple more Thanksgiving pictures, since they were all such fun. One is what a hayride looks like with everyone piled on the flatbed, another is just a funny one of Jacob. I may post one of each branch of my family over the next few days.

Bone-weary is how I'd describe myself tonight. Our TCU Press Annual Autograph Party was tonight--I suspect we had 150 people at the Botanic Garden to buy books and hear a program where Jeff Guinn, famed for his "Evening with" programs, interviewed his friend and our author Michael Barson about his new book, True West: An Illustrated Guide to the Heyday of the Western. About 15 other authors were also there to sign their books. Book sales were brisk, I'm told, and the bookstore provided scrumptious trays of cheese and fruit; we provided wine. Everyone had a good time, even authors who didn't sign many books. For me it's about two hours on my feet, and my feet hurt when I got home--those same black shoes again! But it's also a time to greet lots of people I know and some I don't', like the lady who came up to me and said, "I'm a real fan of yours!" Made my day! I do know the authors, and each of them was someone I was glad to see again. Everyone went away in a happy mood--a bit of early Christmas cheer.

So tomorrow I'll get up and prepare for my annual Christmas party--the freezer is full of cookies and cake, which I'll take out tonight; last night I put the cheeseball and sausage balls in the fridge to defrost; the wine is bought; the dips are in the fridge, with only one easy one to put together at the last minute. I think I have everything under control so I can be semi-lazy tomorrow, make sure bathrooms are clean and all that. The party is extraordinarily early--5 p.m., which I did so folks could go on to other parties. Seems like half the people I invited can't come, but no problem--we'll have a good time and more chance to visit. Then the pressure is off, though I still have packages to wrap and so on.

I read an interesting line today in a manuscript I'm evaluating, written by a woman who recently retired. She viewed retirement as answering the question, "Who am I if I'm not working?" It's the question that haunts me. Sure I'll tell you that being a mom and grandmom are my most important roles, but I don't think it would be fair to the children and grandchildren involved to rely on them to define my life. And I like my work (most of the time--and especially times like tonight), so I continue to work. I have this vague fear that the first day of retirement I would wake up and thinkg, "Omigosh, what am I going to do today?" I'm getting better at piddling, but I sure haven't mastered it yet. Nope, bone-weary or not, I'm not ready for retirement.