Getting Ready ...

And the countdown begins!

I'm quite excited about hosting Christmas dinner at our house this year, yet I'm finding that my entertaining skills have rusted a bit over the years. I'm not as quick-minded as I had been in the past, when this kind of thing was a fairly common occurrence during my "Pastor's Wife" days. What makes it a bit trickier this time around is that I can't do much ahead of time. I can't clean the house, because what will be our "dining area" is ... well, our entire house -- buffet-style, spread out all over the place. Yet I can't leave everything to, literally, the last minute, so this will prove to be an interesting juggling act.

I did a bit of cleaning this morning, hitting some out-of-the-way spots that no one would ever see ... except the Dutch Women-Folk in my family, of course, who somehow see everything. The high point of my day was dusting off the bin of my Christmas dinner-wear, plates and glasses and platters and serving dishes that have not seen sunlight in three years. Setting up the borrowed folding table from a friend, I covered it with a tablecloth and began to set out the platters and serving plates, dotting them with sticky notes designating their purpose: the large clear glass platter will display the roasted red pepper and goat cheese crostini; the smaller white platters will offer the caramelized onion, pear, and brie crostini. We're also whipping up some tasty "Queer Eye Canapés" (prosciutto, arugula, and shaved parmesan), fiesta roll-ups, bruschetta, Ellen's Famous Refried Bean Dip with tortilla chips, crackers along with various spreads (sun-dried tomato, pumpkin spice, crab something-or-other). And since there should be some kind of greenery in the mix -- and not only for decoration -- we're having a mandarin orange salad with mixed greens and feta. I did have to make a few concessions, recognizing that not everyone in my family shares our adventurous tastes in food, so my mom is making lasagna and some kind of quiche, while my aunt is bringing a crock-pot full of tiny meatballs in some kind of sauce. And to please the kiddies, Michelle is bringing a whopping amount of pizza bagels. Oh, this will be fun ... and delicious for all!

But there is much work to do. Like I said, I'm a bit rusty in the Martha Stewart department, and I'm not used to pumping out this much food from my little kitchen. I'm a little concerned about the crowd -- 15 family members -- and some bottle-necking action that's bound to happen, but that's all part of the deal, I suppose. Tomorrow I hit the grocery store for my fresh ingredients, and I can't say I am looking forward to that whatsoever. Our particular store tends to have crowd-control issues during holidays, and the thought of weaving my way around folks who, for some uncanny reason, seem to think they're the only one in the aisle, is not my idea of a relaxing morning. But soldier on I must ...

But first, I have a mountain of laundry to fold. The day-to-day stuff doesn't seem to give me a break.