Christmas Party Success! (and...I'm so glad it's over)

[AlmiraGulch]

Last night I had my annual family Christmas party at my house. It usually is fun, but I was a bit concerned going into it this year for a couple of reasons:

 

1. The Menu

I don't know what I was thinking, but I got very ambitious with my menu this year. We had about 25 people and I only did appetizers, so I needed a lot of them. I didn't make a single thing I've ever made before (except the cold stuff). I made:

 

Toasted Ravioli

Ina Garten's Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms (BEST stuffed mushroom recipe I've ever had, in case you need one)

Spinach and Goat Cheese Tartlets

Bacon Wrapped Blue Cheese and Smoked Almond Stuffed Dates

Poppyseed Ham and Cheese Sliders

A variety of handmade dessert things on decorated skewers

Crudite with home made dip

Feta with honey and cracked black pepper

Deviled eggs (my sister brought them because she makes the best in the world)

Instead of a fruit plate, I decided it would be "fun" to create a Christmas tree out of fruit, including using mini cookie cutters to make ornaments out of the fruit. And to add a home made fruit dip

Signature drink. (I have one every year, and it has to be pretty. This year's included the seeds of 2 fresh pomegranates, fresh mint leaves, lemon zest and some other stuff that required manual labor. )

 

Ok, so nothing terribly difficult, but that's a lot of food, and tedious. It was two straight days of work, but it turned out GREAT in the end! I was so pleased!

 

2. The Guest List

Mostly family, nieces, great nieces, nephews, etc. Lovely people. I really do like all of them. The potential issues though, were:

 

My two sisters who live near me aren't exactly getting along right now. One of them has had it up to her eyeballs with the other and I was concerned she might actually blow a gasket. She didn't. Scene averted.

 

My 19 year old stepson is visiting from Norway. He's great, but he doesn't care at all for his former stepmother (DH's 2nd ex-wife), and she was here. Yep....my DH's ex-wife was here, along with her boyfriend and her parents. Long story, but it was the right thing to do. Thankfully, he just avoided her as much as he could and it turned out ok.

 

In addition to my own DH's mother and stepfather, his ex mother and father in law, his ex-wife and her boyfriend, we also had my ex-husband, and even my sister's first husband's (she has 2 ex husbands) step mother. They've been divorced fro 20 years. Confused yet? :-)

 

At any rate, the food was delicious and everyone had a great time. I'm so grateful that I have a home where everyone can feel welcome and comfortable and put differences aside to enjoy each other. It was an excellent Christmas gift for me.

 

The best part? I went down to get coffee this morning and prepare for the clean-up (all we did last night was put food away) and my ex-husband, who is sleeping on my couch for a few days til he moves to another state, had done it all. Everything. My house is completely put back together. I'm a happy, happy woman today.

[Alessandra]

Oh, my, everything sounds scrumptious! I will look up the mushrooms (love Ina Garten!), and the dates are making my mouth water. It sounds like a wonderful party, especially the clean-up, lol.

[Night Elf]

Wow, that sounds like quite a party! Congrats that it went so smoothly. Reading through that food list made me wish I had scored an invite! :tongue_smilie: Merry Christmas!

[AlmiraGulch]

Wow, that sounds like quite a party! Congrats that it went so smoothly. Reading through that food list made me wish I had scored an invite! :tongue_smilie: Merry Christmas!

 

 

You should have come! You may have been traumatized but the madness, but you would have had some good food. :laugh:

 

The first thing my stepson said to me this morning was "your family is crazy". HAHA!

[RoughCollie]

Now I'm hungry! And I'm in awe of all the work you did. Congratulations on having a successful party!