Some years the party has been harder to pull off than others. There was the year that it snowed and was dangerously icy so we had very few guests except for some hardy neighbors willing to slip-and-slide their way here. Jim always says that the week after the party is his favorite week of the year because of all the party leftovers, some eaten as is and others creatively transformed into dishes that we don’t usually get during the rest of the year. After attending the party one year, one of my daughter’s friends asked her “Do you guys always eat like this?” Um, no, if we did we would be gargantuan! So, yes, I understand Jim’s love of leftover week, but on that super snowy year with its low attendance, I think even he was sick of leftovers before we decided we had enough and tossed the rest.
There was the year that I got overly ambitious about the menu and about half the dishes that I had planned and pre-prepped never made it out of the kitchen. I have since refined the entire process so that even though there is a lot of work that goes into it, the party is a well-oiled machine. My now notorious party planning binder is evidence of that fine-tuning and as I start planning each year, I always spend considerable time in tab #10 of “The Book” which is titled “Ghosts of Christmas past and future” where that particular year’s over-reaching menu is a constant reminder to keep it simple. I get a lot of grief about The Book, but it is indispensable and helps to make this annual event actually happen and makes it easier each year. This year’s improvement was shopping lists created in Access and sorted by ingredient, recipe, store, and on-hand items. Yes, I am a geek, but it sure is efficient and I love this new aspect of The Book almost as much as I love my new Q10, yet another verification of my geekiness.
There was the year after my dad, my dog, and my dear friend Abby all died within a couple months of each other. In the year that I now refer to as “my bad country song” year, going into the Christmas season I was nearly convinced that I could not accomplish the party. Abby had always flown in, first from Chicago then from Denver where she lived, to help me with the party. The party and our annual beach trip to her family’s condo on the Emerald Coast were the only time we spend together anymore each year, and I treasured that time as much as I treasured her love and friendship. Although the party that year probably wasn’t my best effort, I got through it. And it was the year that the glass tomato found its way to my kitchen island. Abby had bought it for me one year during our trip to Florida as a joke because I always teased her about having to stop at every farm stand on the way from the airport to the beach in search of the perfect tomato. Now Abby is with me, in spirit in the form of that tomato, not just at every Christmas party but every single day.
Of course, most years the party is tons of fun, otherwise I obviously wouldn’t keep doing it. It’s a chance to see old friends that I don’t get to see throughout the year and to give the gift of hospitality to the wonderful people in the community I am so fortunate to live in. Every year I am amazed at the discovery of yet another unknown connection between people in my different circles. I will see people chatting at the party that I didn’t even realize knew each other – and it turns out that husbands were fraternity brothers in college, now-grown kids were in preschool together, they or some mutual friend were former colleagues or opposing counsels in a case long ago. It is kind of awesome to bring people together again like that. Apparently Washington DC is a pretty small town after all.
Yesterday certainly goes into the books as a spectacular success. There were moments that completely blew me away and even brought me to tears. In the morning, while rummaging through a bin of craft things looking for dried lotus pods I wanted to incorporate into the floral arrangement I was making for the mantel, I found a beloved object that had been lost for many years and I had assumed was gone forever; I am taking my finding it now as a sign that my friend Jon who passed away just a few weeks ago and Abby are together again and that makes me smile. Later in the day, I was ahead enough in readying for the party that I was able to pause and go enjoy a lovely holiday dance performance by my girls with a tap number so amazing that Jim’s jaw literally dropped as he glanced over at me with that “I-can’t-believe-what-just-saw” look. Back in the kitchen, my family and I delighted in our annual rousing “Kitchen Stadium” countdown as we got food on the table for the party. Once guests arrived, two miraculous moments came when first I was given great news that my good friend who is moving to Texas (man, am I going to miss her and her family) had procured a replacement for her crucial swim team job, and someone who is perfect for the job and I look forward to working with, which takes a load of my mind. Then, later in the party as I came around the corner from the kitchen into the dining room with replenishments of food in my hand there stood a dear friend and soul mate that I hadn’t seen in years, although I kept up with her on Facebook and Pinterest (social media is wonderful but it ain’t the real thing). I burst into tears of joy.
I had so many wonderful, meaningful moments in a single day with my family and so many fantastic friends. As I finally finish writing this piece this evening in a now-clean kitchen, sipping leftover party wine – and who doesn’t love leftover wine! – I have concluded that I am pretty sure I will be doing it all over again next year. I guess I better start working on “The Book” for 2014. Well, maybe after all of the leftovers are gone.
*******************
NOTE: Okay, almost annual. There have been a few years since we started in 1995 that we have missed – 2000 when we had our brand new baby from China and I was a bit overwhelmed by new motherhood; 2002 when we were in China again to pick up daughter number two; 2005 when we were still in the midst of the whole-house renovations that dragged on way too long (don’t they always!); 2009 when we took the girls back to China for a Homecoming tour; and 2012 when I had my little feeling-sorry-for-myself-because-you-blew-off-my-50th-birthday trip to Las Vegas for Cirque Week. I didn’t even do Christmas cards in 2012 and the number of people who told me they thought they had been axed from my party invite list was astounding. Trust me folks, once on you the list you have to be in prison on death row, move and be unfindable (like Witness Protection Program unfindable), or die to get booted off that list!
