Flying By the Seat of My Pants

I love to plan.  Research, plot, strategize -give me a task & I'll figure out how to "gitterdone".  I also like to wing things as I go along.  It sounds like an odd combination, but they really do work together.  The trick is to prepare yourself enough to be ready to respond to any situation. 

For example: traveling.  I'll read up on all possible things to do in the destination.  Then when we get to the destination, we already know what our choices are so we can plan as we go.  "The weather is horrible, let's go shopping at Harrod's" or "I'm really too tired to go to another museum, let's go to a pub instead".  It's a lovely balance between being uber-organized and spontaneous.

The Christmas celebration we have at my sister's is usually planned like a battle, down to how many bottles of bubbly each person is bringing.  Each year, we vow to keep it simple, and each year we manage to over-complicate things and wind up in the kitchen trying to get everything done in time to unwrap presents before Turtle falls asleep.

This year is a bit different.  Usually we have our celebration together before Christmas.  This year we will be doing it the day after Christmas (I believe it is known as "Boxing Day" in some parts of the world).  My sister is also getting ready for a milestone birthday party for her mother-in-law as well as Christmas, so we haven't been planning as much. 

As we were speaking on the phone today it occurred to me, "If we wait until the last minute, maybe we won't over-complicate the food!"  So it shall be so.  We'll be Flying By The Seats of Our Pants this Christmas.  I'm bringing leftovers from our Christmas meal (Forloren Hare) plus whatever looks good in the store on the way to my sister's that day.  My sister will serve her leftovers plus a couple of other standard Christmas dishes.  We will go over to her place in the morning, slip into jammies and spend the day sipping lovely beverages and playing games.  Just like we always TRY to do. 

Don't worry, we'll still figure out how many bottles of bubbly we need.

The Christmas Party

Did I remember to take any pictures at the Reed Family Christmas Soiree?  No.  So you'll have to make do with these images.

The guests arrived, all nattily attired:




The table was set with great care......




.....and laden with goodies such as Forloren Hare, Scalloped Tomatoes, Focaccia,  Hob Nobs as well as a preview of ms. caboo's Homemade Limoncello.

We enjoyed many glasses of wine:




and even more witty repartee:




A most glorious party indeed!









Be good and next year you'll be invited to the Reed Family Christmas Soiree.  Be bad and next year you'll be invited to the Reed Family Christmas Soiree and get kitchen duty.