We didn’t waste any time getting the house broken in. We started with a bluegrass hootenanny at the beginning of December.
It was a great test for the great room and kitchen. With a fire roaring in the fireplace, there was room enough for food, spectators, and musicians.
Then we turned it around and tidied up for garden club.
The speaker wanted to stand behind a counter height table and do arrangements, so we pulled out this cabinet and put a board on top.
That seemed to do the trick.
And look what a beautiful arrangement he made.
And he just kept going!
But all of those events were just the warm up for the big show:
Christmas Eve.
It was our turn to host the clan gathering. We do it every three years, so accommodating the crowd was one of our design criteria. Let’s see how we did.
65 for cocktails?
Not a problem!
48 for dinner?
Let’s see. How about 14 in the dining room…
That works!
We can fit 12 in the breakfast nook…
yep!
A smaller, quieter table in the library can seat 6.
You pay extra for the private room!
We can put 9 hardy college kids on the porch with the propane heaters…
Can do!
And the others can pull up around the fire and eat in their laps.
Now what about the pinata? Where should we do that?
We’ll hang that bad boy from the beams on the porch.
From the tiniest, to the soon to graduate,
they whack away.
The recent pinata graduates try to hold themselves back,
but once the candy hits the floor, all bets are off!
Now we’ll just tuck a keyboard into the corner of the living room,
and sing some carols before Santa’s sleigh gets too much closer ,
because somebody’s getting sleepy.
I think the house passed the Christmas Eve clan gathering test. What do you think?
