The plan on the 24th was to get to Ty's around noon, to get the giant pot of gumbo, which is my contribution to the pot luck dinner, simmering on the stove with enough time to be really delicious by dinner time. Stews and soups are always better the longer they simmer.
Jay likes to do a few racks of ribs; he seasoned them up two days before and Ty actually picked them up on Monday, so he could get them into his smoker first thing in the morning. They barely fit. Jay also does a huge pan of chicken wings. We were going to slow roast those in the oven in Ty's second kitchen.
Oh, a good tip: If you're going to host over 50 people for dinner, it's a great idea to have a second kitchen. Seriously, Tyler's house was made for this kind of gathering. In addition to a huge great room (open concept!) there's an enormous playroom in the basement, equipped with tons of toys, a backboard mounted on one wall and plenty of room for hippy hop races. Beyond that is the movie theater, but as far as I know, no Christmas movies were being shown during the party. Then, beyond the laundry/mechanical room, is the two bedroom Mother-in-law apartment that acts as guest suite/man cave. In addition to the kitchen, there's a big screen TV and a pool table. Anyone who gets tired of the party upstairs can feel free to have a smaller scale party downstairs. From the pool room is a sliding door leading to the back yard, in case cigars are offered.
In the end, Jay did the wings at home. He had a package being delivered that he'd have to sign for and didn't want to miss it, so I went off with my gumbo fixin's and he waited for Fedex. No problem!
On Monday, Ty had picked up his gift to Megan: a painting he'd commissioned from my sister, Katie. Megan had wanted one of Katie's stylized portraits of her kids for years but held back until she'd had her third baby. Now that Kitten is here, the painting was ordered, delivered and hung on the wall. It's mounted in a place where it's easily visible from most of the great room. I discovered as I did the gumbo that the only place in the house from which the new painting is not visible is the kitchen. That's no good: the painting is for Megan and the kitchen is where she spends most of her time. I told Ty the painting needs to be moved to the wall where Megan can see it when she's in the kitchen. I would have moved everything around while the gumbo simmered but there's one piece on the wall that's mounted rather heavily, so moving it will take a bit of time. I put everything back on the wall and promised to relocate everything another time. For now, at least all the guests would have a great view of the new portrait.
Jay got to Ty's about an hour after I did and the wings, which were cooked, were kept warm in the lower kitchen.
Guests began arriving at about 3. In the past, our Christmas Eve parties began after the Children's services offered late in the afternoon but several folks had requested an earlier start this year; with so many young children now part of the fun and factoring in the drive to Ty's place, it just made sense to move the start forward. With all the snow on the ground and the temperature's much warmer than they were a week ago, circumstances were perfect for some fun with the horses and tractor inner tubes!
Having gotten everything ready ahead of time, Megan was free to spend the first few hours of the party on horseback, pulling any guests who dared up and down the pastures on the inner tubes. Most of the men gathered in the barn to smoke some cigars and be manly men. Any women who wanted to do either were welcome down at the barn as well.
I stayed up in the house. While tubing behind the horses looked like fun, I know that trying it myself would end up with me in traction, so no thanks.
After dark, when everyone was back inside, we said a huge grace and had dinner. Everyone brought something to share, so there was more than enough, despite our numbers. Everything was delicious.
We played the game after dinner. As far as I could tell, it went off without a hitch and I was unaware of anyone crying, even though our family motto is "It ain't Christmas till someone's crying." The range of gifts was great: from a yard of m&ms to Amazon gift cards to bottles of wine. I ended up with a lovely pair of sock/slippers and a replica of the vintage game Mystery Date!
Guests started heading for home around 6:30. We were vaguely hopeful that the entire party would disperse early, allowing us to get the kids down at a reasonable hour and maybe even getting to bed before midnight. Hahahaaaa!
None of that happened.
A few families with tiny kids did leave early but the party barely slowed down. After a while, I found myself out in the screened porch, which was plenty warm with all the plastic windows up and the new space heater Ty had bought specifically for the party blasting. A handful of us older folks were out there, enjoying the relative peace and coolness.
The party did end earlier than in year's past. Jay and Zack decided to amend our original plans to go to Mass en masse in the morning and headed for the 9:00 service in town. Xena and Babalouie went to bed after the last of the revelers had gone. BoopityBoop were a much harder deal.
At not quite 3 years old, BoopityBoop were unimpressed with the argument that Santa wouldn't come until they'd gone to sleep. Those two girls are much more interested in a party tonight than theoretical presents in the morning. After their Mom, Dad and Nana tried to tuck them in, a water bottle fight, a poop emergency, tended to by their uncle and Mom, several stories, including the tale of the First Christmas, which caused Boop to pop out of bed yelling "Yay, JESUS!" and two trips back upstairs, they finally seemed to fall asleep.
Once peace settled over the house, we adults sat around the kitchen table talking and Jay gave me my Christmas present; the prettiest fur coat you've ever seen! That's the delivery for which he'd been waiting all morning! It's exactly what I wanted it to be! I plan on wearing that coat everywhere. If you ever see a woman wearing a gorgeous fur and a cheap fanny pack, shopping at Aldi, it might be me. Or maybe I'll be wearing the sweet, leather fanny pack Ty gave me the next morning!
Katie gave us all her gifts before we went to bed, as she wanted us to begin using them immediately: she gave us all heavy blankets! I have no trouble sleeping but I like it, a lot.
I was one of the first to wake up Christmas morning, around 7:00.
Part 2 of our Christmas bash was about to begin.