Moms' X-mas Party

My clumsy attempt at making the packages pretty

Who I had to keep me company while I was trying to get ready. Most happy in her vibrating monkey seat

Tried to make the appetizer table festive

Part of the presents I gave. Framed photo of the Moms

Usually we have our party closer to X-mas but some of us were travelling in Dec so we had this early. Fortunately I did some of the cooking and preparations in advance because yesterday I had Allie while her parents watched the OSU/UM game with friends. We had the game on too only with the sound off when Allie was sleeping. She had a bunch of shots the day before and was very crabby. While she slept, we certainly didn't want to risk waking her. The game was expected to be a blow-out..not in UM's favor but they hung there until the end losing by just one point. So yay!

I made a soup that we had made in our cooking for survivors class. Mostly butternut squash with parsnips, onions and apples thrown it in a vegetable stock. The chief flavoring was fresh ginger. Using crescent rolls dill, broccoli, 3 kinds of cheese and almonds, I made a braid for the main dish. Also I made a vegetarian version of the bacon balsamic vinegar brussel sprouts. The ladies brought plenty of various appetizers, salads and desserts to  complete our dinner along with plenty of wine.

Over the years I have accumulated lots of lights, candles, flameless and otherwise and various color changing light sculptures plus our ginormous lit tree. I had these things on all over the place to hopefully add to the festivity. Probably kids would appreciate this more but aren't we all kids at heart. And lots of cool presents.

But most important was the love and support and good talks.

Love the Moms.

It is the next day now and we have Maya as her mom appears to have the norovirus. I have no idea where she got it. Maya hasn't been with her in a few days so hopefully she is safe. It is actually warm and calm enough for a bike ride. Out I went. I forgot how much traffic the x-mas tree farm generates (used to get ours there too before I succombed to the fake tree). Somehow while frantically braking , I managed to bend my nail back in the middle of the nail. It hurts and is bloody. So much for pretty nails.