The party’s over.  Oh wait, the lights are turned out and the party is over. But it was so much fun.  I hosted our first annual Church staff Christmas party this evening.  In the hustle and bustle of the season, church staff members rarely have a free moment to potty alone, much less get together and share a meal and maybe play a few cheesy party games. But those blessed people need it as much if not more than the rest of us.

Tonight was the night. I made Julia Child’s ham with cream wine sauce. Only I cheated and used cooking wine.  I was a little disappointed in the flavor of the ham, since it only tasted like ham. It was cooked with carrots and onions (that had sauteed in butter), cooking wine, beef stock, thyme, parsley, pepper and cloves. It was good and smelled…oh my word the smell was wonderful. But it just tasted like your every day, average, run-of-the-mill ham.  Oh and the cream sauce! So tasty. Ideally it should have been poured over the ham, but we all used it as gravy and yummy!!

I tried my hand at creamed spinach. And it was a huge success. Someone asked me, “How did you make the spinach to make it taste so good?” Another girl said, “I’ve never gone to someone’s house and had spinach but it is my favorite vegetable.” I call that a success.

The mashed potatoes did not come from The Art of French Cooking, but were still very tasty.  The pumpkin cheesecake recipe came from The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer and was better than ever tonight.

Now I’m a happy girl as I sit here in the darkened house, listening to the clocks ticking, gazing at the Christmas tree. The house incredibly quiet. The girls are in bed and asleep, Mr. Full Cup is gone…ironically to our church to work.  And here I sit, yawning, telling myself to go to bed but I just can’t seem to bring myself to move.

A perfect day. A busy day. A perfectly busy day.

Blessed are You, O Lord, God of Israel our father, forever and ever