Let the games begin!

    I put out a call on my Facebook page for people to name their favorite party game.  We're having friends over tonight for a low-keyed New Year's Eve dinner party and I needed some fresh ideas.
   Here's what came in.  Feel free to add your faves:  Celebrity, Consensus, MadGab, Apples to Apples, Bananagrams, Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, Cranium, Spin the Bottle (this, from the apparently frisky Short Jewish Gal - see link to the right), Charades, Taboo and Mexican Train.  (Funny, no one mentioned Naked Twister, my personal favorite.)
   Looks like I have some research to do to figure out which games would work best for a party of 12.
   Here's hoping you have a fun and safe night tonight, and a fabulous year ahead.
   Cheers!

Girl sleeps around

I swear, this puppy can sleep anywhere.  Here she is, snoozing away on No. 1 Son's feet.  So jealous....

Night lights

Christmas twinklers under 9 inches of snow.  Another visual delight, compliments of Blizzard 2009.

Vaporize me, baby!

After four straight days in front of a roaring fire, my skin, eyes, lips and nasal passages are dry as a bone.  Time to break out the trusty humidifiers for the winter.   In case you haven't heard, dry winter air is a real pain.  Here's why.

Snow removal, Part Deux

One of the men folk has become so fond of shoveling, he keeps calling me from outside on his cell phone to come take more photos.  What can I say, no?  I'm just sitting inside by the fire doing nothing!

Making progress up to the front porch.

Somewhere, there's a pond under there.  See the little arched bridge?

I love the way the snow caught on my antique sled by the front door.

Kicking back old school

Santa must have sensed we'd get socked in for three days this Christmas, low on liquor and desperate for things to do. That's why he left these old-timey diversions under the tree:

I used to be quite the Tiddledy Winks player in my youth.  And there's the operative word - youth.  After a rousing game of Tiddledy with the old man on the living room floor last night, not only were our point totals low, we could hardly move a half hour later.

My daughter loves her potholder loom (like the one I had in 4th grade) so much, she won't let me make one lousy potholder.  She's got a party to go to tonight and when she's away, the elves will play, baby!

NOW is the winter of my discontent

OK, enough snow already.  The driveway the men folk spent 3 hours shoveling is covered again with two inches of new fluff.  The side streets aren't sufficiently groomed to venture out in anything but my son's filthy dirty old Jeep, and said son is moving out today (a light in the darkness).  I'm going to have to get extremely inventive with what's left in my freezer if we want to eat.  Worst of all, we're out of liquor!

Post 3-hr shovel session

(There was a time when that would've been me snoozing on his shoulder.  'Just sayin....)

Snow!

First real white Christmas since I don't know when. We are, for all intents and purposes, snowed in! This calls for a little Grand Marnier in my coffee and the traditional opening of the presents.  Happy Christmas, everyone!

The view out our mudroom door.  Snow drift at hip level.

Impressive drifts on window boxes.

Oops!  Forgot to winterize the screened porch.

 

What the men folk are doing today.   Women folk are keeping the home fire burning and the hot cocoa warm, equally important and strenuous tasks.

Yule log fire - a classic

For all of you who are sans fireplace this year, here's a classic for your Christmas Eve enjoyment:



Happy holidays, and thanks for reading!

- Cathy

My kids, my stuff

I insisted that my kids read yesterday's column.  My daughter laughed all the way through it, then asked, "Are you trying to tell us something?"  Then, she promptly went to my bathroom and took my straightening iron up to her room.  Seriously!