Open House

Every year we do an Open House and invite pretty much everyone we know. We have the people that come pretty much every year, and then whoever else has time on that day. It's meant as a little break from the mad rush of the holidays, and it's not supposed to be something anyone has to stress over :)

This year we had over 30 people come thru in the 4-hour time span we were "open." Lee's mom & dad were able to come (I don't think they've missed many), and this year they came with Kraig & Nancy. Donna & Jim came with their grandkids, Rita & James. Connor had to share his xbox a bit, which was hard for him, but also a good lesson.

We also had a number of ladies from the TOPS club come. I almost feel guilty about the type of food I have out, since we're all watching our weight, but since it's a buffet snacky-type deal, and there ARE veggies, I don't worry too much. TOPS is all about self-managing your weight. It's not a diet plan, and you're supposed to be able to make good choices based on the stuff you learn at the meetings.

We also had neighbors come, which is always funny to me, because we don't seem to get a lot of time to talk to each other thru the year. It tends to be more along the lines of taking care of each other's pets when we're on vacation, and the occasional happening in the neighborhood that we meet in the street and talk about (why is there an ambulance at their house?).

And then of course, there are the other folks we invited. People from school or work, mostly. And again, we never really know who will be able to make it, and it's a nice surprise to see who does. Some people bring a little gift, and that's also a nice surprise. Trevor's friend Christy came, and her mom brought us a bag with wine that I will open on Christmas Eve, I think :)

For our part, once the Open House starts, we all get to relax & have fun. But up until then, our house is a whirlwind of cleaning and cooking. Trevor spent a good 8 hours in his bedroom, because it was just that bad! I think we got 3 large trash bags of stuff out of his room. Why does he even keep boxes from trading cards? He has larger boxes and folders to hold the cards!

Anyway, the food we had out this time consisted of:
Trevor's fudge
Diana's Spritz cookies
Chocolate-dipped pretzel rods
Stollen (German Christmas bread)
Rice Krispie treats
M&M's

Potato chips

Spinach dip in a sourdough bowl
Dragon's Breath dip
Garden dip
Curry dip
Various crackers
Veggie tray
Cheese cubes (cheddar & pepperjack)
Beefstick (that was a gift - we're vegetarian)

This is the aftermath.

I think next year, we'll stick with just 2 dips. This time I'd gotten the Dragon's Breath, Garden & Curry dips at the craft fair, and we wanted to try them. Usually it's just onion dip.

We had so many veggies left, I made soup with them. I just chopped up the bell peppers, celery and cauliflower, added onion and potatos with some water, butter & milk, and it turned out really nice. We ate it with the other sourdough round.

Fun stuff & now that everything is over, I can relax except for the last-minute holiday stuff -- like shopping with the kids since neither of the older ones have done any of that yet! But we're out of school, so it's all good :)