The Party's Over

Every year Jerry and I invite all his relatives over for a Christmas party. Last year it was snowed out entirely because we had an unbelievable amount of snow that closed down the entire Pacific Northwest for more than a week. Not much snow by Minnesota standards, but since we don't have snow plows, it left us spinning by the side of the road- until it melted and left us six feet under water (back to normal, that is.)
This year we were again surprised by snow, but not as much. Although traffic on the freeway was backed up for hours, that was mostly because everyone was slowing down to look at the cars that had rolled upside-down in the ditch. So most of the guests made it. One family who had to drive over a hundred miles turned around half way, and another family who might just have been suffering from too much holiday cheer the night before decided the hill in front of their house was too steep to drive. (At least it had stopped spinning sometime between last call and dawn.)
We had a good turn-out. (Jerry's family always uses the phrase 'turn out' for attendance as though it was a sporting event instead of a social gathering.) Erma brought tons of cookies and, for a balanced diet, a huge vegetable platter. Kristi made four batches of roasted pecans. Alice's fruit plate was a hit with the little children who were forced to 'eat something' before diving into the candy. Ken brought his home-made caramel corn. Lucky for me (and my waist line) that Nate took most of the leftovers home.
Nancy Sherer