Wright Family Xmas Party

1) My mom , Ashley, Olivia 2) grand kids - Kaileigh & Lil' Rocky 3) Aunt Char, Dad, Sheila, brother Shawn, and girl friend Kelly 4) Glenn, Connie, Randy, Tommy, Aunt Char 5) Glenn, Connie, and Dodie I hadn't hosted a large family Xmas party in my Newell Drive home before. Come to think of it, I had done it only once anywhere. That was on Valleyview Drive several years ago. At least two attendees from that party are dead now - Grandma Lantz and Uncle George. Saturday started early. I was up around 7:30am after wisely choking down three Advil just before bedtime. We had a very busy day planned thus an early start was key to successful execution. Mindy stayed in bed while started the day with exercise and a walk of Ykraps. Because I was up early, I was treated to some sunshine and blue skies. But just as I finished up my walk with Ykraps the sky began to cloud over for what I'd later learn would last through the day's duration. Once back from my walk I prepared some coffee and downloaded pictures from the night before. I wasted little time preparing for my run since, once again, I was eager to get the day moving. Not only were we expecting 30 or so house guests later this afternoon, but we still had oodles of food to prepare, and a handful of party gifts to wrap. And despite the fact that Mindy had been grocery shopping the afternoon before, we already had another list started for forgotten items. I checked my laptop and Blackberry to see how work was going after not being paged all night long. And thankfully, work appeared to be quiet as a mouse. I left for my run around 8:30am. I took the Trabue Rd route. It was a fun run. Back at home, Mindy was up and searching for coffee. Glenn was still asleep. We started concocting our Xmas party entrees almost immediately. The noise or the hour finally woke Glenn. He joined us downstairs sometime near 10am ET. The first thing that Mindy and I prepared was our Xmas ham. We had a 14 lb whole ham that first needed to be etched then basted with her mother's own special recipe. We had the ham in the oven by 11am. Next I began the sausage bake and buffalo chicken dip, both of which are first time recipes for me. I muffed the buffalo dip a little but nothing that couldn't be cured by doubling the recipe. Unfortunately, that meant I was a full 10 ounce can of chicken short. I added that to my growing grocery list. While all of that slowly cooked, I took a shower before heading out to Kroger. I left for Kroger near 12:15pm. As I exited the subdivision I decided to hit the ghetto Kroger close to the ghetto Target on West Broad St. My thinking was that I could kill two birds with one stone. We were one nutcracker short of finding the perfect one for each of our siblings. First I hit Target and found the nutcracker we needed. To my surprise, they were 33% off today! Wahoo! Onto Kroghetto! I have only been in this Kroger once in maybe the last three years. It's not dirty by any means but the crowd is pretty lowly, and the selection a bit depleted. In the door it was quickly apparent that they were short of the items on my list. I was none too pleased. I decided quickly to abandon this Kroger and head to another. At first I thought that I'd head to Arlington/Grandview, but as I was pulling away I remembered the New Kroger at Galloway Rd. It is a very nice & very large Kroger. That turned out to be a wise choice. They had everything on my list. At the entrance, one of our engineers was ringing the Salvation Army bell. I gave him $10 and wished he and his cute family a very merry Xmas as I left. Home! I arrived home and quickly finished up our recipes. Time, meanwhile, was slipping away. It was almost 3:00pm. Jim Manken called around 3:15pm to let us know that he and the kids were on their way home. Before 4pm, guests began arriving. First it was mom, Chuck, then Ashley, Olivia, and Lil' Rocky. And not long after, other family members like Dad, Sheila, Dodie, Connie, Randy, Travis, Samuel arrived. Soon we had a house full. This was the first time we had seen Evan, brother Bob and April's newest addition. Brother Tommy showed up with his step-daughter Jacqueline and her two kids, Bradley and Zoey. Later, my grand-daughter Kaileigh arrived as did brother Shawn, Kelly, Lil' Shawn and Brooklyn arrived. We had a house full. All that food we prepared and no one seemed to be eating. At least not early on. After some time, however, the shyness wore off and our guests began eating, ultimately making a serious dent in all of our festive party concoctions. Aunt Charlene showed up with her longtime boyfriend, Robert. This was the first time any of us met him. She got the party hopping with singing and dancing. Soon everyone was up - all but Glenn. Despite lots of coaxing, he just wouldn't get up and out there. A surprise really, since he used to be the one dancing like a crazy man. He seemed completely withdrawn when it came to dancing. Even the kids joined in the fun. We went through lots of beer and a few bottles of wine before it was all said and done. Some of us even did some buttery nipple shots after our parents departed. Before midnight, Dodie, Connie, and Randy left with their kids. Tommy stayed back helping us clean the mess. Glenn, Tom and I did a shot of Jack as a night capper! Tommy left about an hour later - sometime near 1am. After cleaning up most of the mess, the rest of us, Mindy, Glenn, Ykraps and I retired.