Christmas Party December 25th 2011 Part One

Chair and Table Placement for the Event

My sister thinks that this tale should be told in about three entries. Optimistically I start with the first.
We remodeled our home a few years ago. We added a new kitchen and this allow for a breakout area with an island between the dinning room area and the kitchen. For most of the year this area is under used. The island itself has a drop down shelf that allows for two chairs to set and eat facing each other. A third chair may be added in the pass through area so that a third person could sit with us and have dinner. Originally it was thought that it would serve as a spot that Sue could sit and help prep veggies for dinner and not have to stand up through the process. It is covered as is all the kitchen counter surfaces with porcelain tile. Hot plates may be set anywhere on the counter with heat immunity.

Site Prep

The first order of business besides planning this event was to clear off the island and put the items that were piled on the island to there natural.
Suzy my wife started out by decorating the dining room table from one end to the other with red plaid table cloths and candles run by tiny batteries. Our new kitten, Oliver, thought that was great fun to rumple up the table cloth and skid from one end to the other, leaving in his wake a wave of place cards and silverware!.
We also started counting the number of spots that would be occupied by the family. The count turned to 15.

Lindsay, the youngest daughter, suggested that we should work to the idea that everyone should have a seat at the table. Last year, she and her husband ate their Christmas dinner on the kitchen couch because there were not enough spots at the table for them. So to remedy that, I bought in the long table that was being used for canning in the summer. It had spent the summer and the fall getting dirty in the backyard. I scrubbed and cleaned off all of the black mold that had accumulated and a dust and dirt that had blown on to the table.

Sue had anticipated using the table so a matching plaid tablecloth was available for its use. We resolved that issue as to whether the table would be positioned at the T formation of parallel. The T formation with complete sides was agreed upon and decorated accordingly. We needed to use the head spot on the table to accommodate our numbers but we did not need them parallel as it would lead to difficulty in accessing the island as a buffet surface.

Invitations were sent to each family. I had some watercolor based cards that I could quickly make a Christmas tree with my watercolors. We figured the time schedule, knowing that it would be adapted for the company that was to come. Our listed target time was 11:30 on Christmas day.  Breakfast materials and brunchy stuff would be out there for those arriving early. At noon we were to have enough of the starters so that people could nosh until the main courses could be heated and ready to hit the table at 1-1:30. Then we would start the special interest groups. As it worked out we were only a half an hour behind schedule. Good work family. Most of the participants had to travel 2 hours or more to get to our house.

Our family has a unique gathering activity post dinner. In the past we have tried a number of things. The family is pretty artistic and small craft projects have often been utilized. We have made Santa beards one Christmas. We have made tiny acrylic painting to set on tiny easels in another year. We have played games that were designed by some very creative game masters.

The Lovely Lemon Throw Down

This year we added a new wrinkle to the activities that interacted with the meal. After seeing some of the Bobby Flay throw downs on TV, I though that we should should see if we could put one together for all of the great cooks and bakers in our family.

In the TV throw downs, Bobby Flay goes out to a restaurant and challenges the cook to a contest to see if he could make an item as good or better than the one that the restaurant had built a reputation. Ours would have a different set of parameters. The group would be challenged if they decided to participate, in making one lemon dessert that would be judged against lemon desserts that other people would bring. The main idea was that it had to be a lemon dessert and it had to be made by the participant.

I put up a 50 dollar gift certificate to a fancy cooking store in the Bay Area as the winner's prize.
This year there was great participation. There were 8 diverse entries into this contest. A lot of buzz was generated in the family about "secret" entries. Some people were not keen about sharing their plans until the day of the contest, after the dinner was completed. I had asked one of the neighbors to come over and judge the contest. Lindsay thought that it would be great to have a few more than one judge. She knocked on the other neighbor's house and rounded up three more people to judge the contest. There were a total of 4 judges for this contest.

The judges were asked to put in order the top three entries. Three of the judges left copious notes as to what they were tasting and what they liked.

A winner was determined by the ranking of the top three. The winner did not win by unanimous decision but the winner was easily determined by the relative strength of the rankings. To find out who won..  check in with part two. 


   : ) Pat