'Tis the Season

It is a holiday full of mixed emotion for me.

The weekend was spent in Orlando. My sister, daughter - Mrs. H. and I met up with daughter - Mrs. McD and her hubby. Mr. and Mrs. McD belong to the Disney Vacation Club and visit a couple of times a year for r & r. Mrs. H - the teacher, is moving to London for what could be several years. She's spent the last week at our house getting her last minute details taken care of.

Yesterday we met Mr. & Mrs. McD in their condo at Animal Kingdom Lodge for hugs, gift exchange and talk while we watched giraffe and zebra roam the Savannah outside. They made all of us beautiful photo books of our family trip to Alaska. Before we knew it was time to head to the airport to see off Mrs. H. Doesn't matter how old they are, it's hard to drop off a child especially if you don't know when you'll see them again. There are complicated circumstances surrounding her move and I will naturally worry about her.

However, the best part is... My sister is visiting for several weeks, mother is taking us on a cruise in January, PLUS RQM & his girl dogs are coming for dinner tomorrow! Doesn't get any better than that! Hope all enjoy your holiday.

WARNING...

...NEVER use a sharp meat fork to attempt retrieval of a broken wine cork.

Fifteen minutes to go Saturday, I was in my robe doing some last minute party chores. "Open the red." went through my mind. Cork screw in, only half the cork came out. Damn! Quickly I opened the drawer where all the sharp shit is. This will work, I thought as I grabbed the Henkles meat fork. One jab and it will pop either out or down into the bottle.

WRONG!!! It went in then out of the end of my middle finger left hand. Red wine and blood flew all over my impeccably clean kitchen. Ten minutes until the first guest and I really needed stitches! Bobby took over and cleaned up the mess while I washed my wound. It wouldn't stop bleeding so I finally just put a big bandage on it and got dressed. All went well but it took an Alive and a couple of screwdrivers before the throbbing settled down.

It's really ugly and still hurts like hell... especially when I type.

Eating, Drinking and being Merry

Tonight we host our annual holiday party. We've done it for 25 years. Neighbors and friends gathering for drinks, food and hopefully fun. RQM can't make it. He has to work which totally sucks. Somehow we will manage without his adorable smiling face.

After so many years we have it down to a science. Don't get me wrong, it's still a lot of work. The food shopping is the worst part... oh, and dusting my enormous doll collection which takes days. But mostly, it falls together easily in a week. Right now the table is set, the bar assembled. The house looks great.. front porch decorated with poinsettias and wrapped faux gifts. All preliminary preparations finished.... the turkey is in the oven with the ham to follow.

We'll have fresh rolls; baked turkey; baked ham; Smithfield ham from VA; assorted cheese; Smoked Wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon; Swedish meatballs; a vegi tray; homemade cheese ball and olive spread... pickles, olives, chips, crackers, toasted pecans and party mix and Christmas cake.

But right now, a rest before I shower.

Wish all my blog buddies could be here to joins us!

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Butler,
RQM,
dondon,
Blogzie... please come back.
I miss you!.