This was last weekend

I survived the in-laws visit despite the statement "You Liberals are trying to outlaw Christmas", yep Fran's Dad actually said that. There are tons of reasons why this is funny.... a few

1. he is a UU, Yep, a good old inclusive New England Unitarian Universalist, fighters for gay marriage, in other words a Liberal.

2. We happened to have been subjected to very similar rants while in NJ at My families.... All coming from FOX television.

3.Fran's family never was a big Christmas celebrating clan. They do save this time of year though for the biggest, long simmering fueds/battles.

That was only the tip of the iceberg of last weekend.

I am recovered. I'm ready to have some fun for the holidays...
You all know that with Fran holidays are not his thing. He might even be said to be against them.
I've been mentioning getting a tree and decorating it for about a week, with the response, No , not yet, too early. For a little greenery I made a boxwood wreath yesterday, yes very Mid-Atlantic elite of me.

Now I'm over it and moving on to the next thing which is the Xmas eve dinner.

I happen to love doing this. It all is planned around the big eve celebration in Woodstock.

I invite the group (friends) and you all know who you are. over for cocktails and some nibbles in the late afternoon. It's got to be early because the santa arrival on the village green is at 5:30, so we need a little lift before we head out into the cold to see what transportation Santa will arrive in... Here's someone's story from last year. As you can see it is a very elaborate affair and the entire town is there.

After that we all head to the house and start the feast. I like to loosely base it on the Italian vigili. In other words.... lots of seafood.

So that is where my head it at this morning. hope to update you all soon. with a menu once the planning is done.
There will be something with baccala and .... I'm not quite sure what else yet.