Worst Party Ever Turns Out to be Not So Bad

The weather was not my friend this weekend, but overall, I suppose it worked out okay. Cathy (from Maryland) was already there, and then our neighbors across the street were invited, so we knew we'd have three people at our post-holiday holiday party. Half-way through the day, we thought the Charlotte folks were on their way, so we thought we might possibly be breaking out the air mattresses and we'd heard from our sitter (who is originally from New England) that she was still coming. The weather forecast was calling for it to not drop below freezing until 10pm, so with a 7pm start, we figured we could still have people over, get them to eat the $300+ in groceries I had in the house, then get them back out the door before it got slippery.

Assuming it got slippery.

Which it didn't.

But I get ahead of myself. So around mid-day Cathy and I decided to dive in and just keep making the food in anticipation of a turn for the better in the weather. We'd been cooking all morning, plus I had been doing a lot the night before, but there were still some things to make, and we thought we'd go ahead and do it. At 3pm, the Charlotte crew called to say they had not, in fact, left at 1pm, and were not coming, and then the Greensboro and High Point crews called. I knew the areas west of us were getting hit worse than us, so I was disappointed, but I also prefer my friends to be alive, so I was completely happy with them not coming. I notified folks in the area that the party was still on, and since the weather forecast was starting to say that we would NOT get as much as we thought, and possibly not even really have bad road conditions, they should come if they felt comfortable.

We ended up not making everything on the plan, but most of it, and we had a core group of 15 people, who were kind enough to eat quite a bit. The last stragglers left at about 11pm and reported that the roads were dry as a bone. No chance of black ice, and even if there WERE ice, you would be able to see it because the roads were otherwise dry.

We did throw away quite a bit of food, but still have the cake and brownies and cookies. We also have some cheddar crackers and some pita chips. And lots of beer and wine. Although that, too, was well-loved and at least took a good solid hit. The best part is that since we didn't have a big turnout... I just kept my recipes together for next year. No menu planning for me next year... it's all done!