Holy people, batman!

And the holidays are offically over, at least at my house...

There were 22 people at my house yesterday. I, in my infinate wisdom, decided to invite my dad's side of the family over to share some Christmas cheer, as we don't get to see each other all that often anymore. When my grandmother (dad's mom) was alive, we all went over to her place to have dinner and socialize a bit. That was bc - before children. And a number of spouses... and then I invited them all over to our house, and told them that I would prepare all of the food. When I figured out how many people would be there, I started worrying about if there would be enough food. But, things did turn out okay.

I made a ham (bone-in) just stuck it in the oven at 325 for about 3 1/2 hours. Simek's veggie lasagne in the microwave (thankfully you can do that, otherwise I would have needed another oven - something on the wish list for the kitchen remodel), meatballs and bbq sauce in a crock pot, about 6 lbs of mashed potatos in another warmer, beets, corn, buns, cheese, crab dip, cheese and crackers, banana bread, biscotti... and then I brought out the pie - apple, pumpkin pecan, and coconut. Most of the stuff was made ahead of time, so all I needed to do was some warming, but it was still a bit of work. Eric did hack up, er, carve, the ham, but that was all of the food stuff that he did.

Add to that - my SIL was supposed to come and clean the house, but she was not feeling well, so I did most myself. I went home at noon, and started straightening, picking up, dusting, dishes, food prep, and bathroom cleaning. When Eric came home, he vacuumed everything.

And then decended the horde. I ran around a bit, making sure everyone had drinks, food was okay, etc. The kids kept running up and down the stairs, and added to the general confusion. I ate a piece of the veggie lasagne, and some beets, and a small piece of cake, and a small piece of pie. And crackers and crab dip. And some beer. Yep, that's about it.

I was so tired when everyone left - I had basically been on my feet doing stuff for 9 hours. Eric, the lovely man that he is, rubbed my feet for me when we crawled into bed.

Another Christmas, come and gone. And I have survived.

Here's to another year of holiday togetherness... and probably by this time next year, I will be wondering, once again, why I do this to myself!

Happy holidays everyone!
-a