Christmas 2: Christmas in July :::SNEAK PREVIEW:::

We are now a few days away from the second Christmas 2: Christmas in July (CH2) and the excitement is building. I'll go over what you should expect if you decide to hold your own Christmas 2: Christmas in July or will be stopping by the house. I will also hit on some of the improvements/changes I have made from last year.

            At the most basic level CH2 is a color coordinated Christmas themed Secret Santa party with a potluck component. I may not be a celebrity, but I am asking everyone to come dressed in Christmas colors: red, green, gold, silver, white etc. It adds just another layer to the fun. The secret Santa was the toughest part of the event to coordinate. Santa told me that it was a bit rough figuring out the giver/receiver list. 90% of the guests are giving to someone they actually know. I love the novelty of holding this event in July (I’ve stated in the past that I borrowed this idea from SantaClaus: The Movie). Even though we are in the middle of summer I decorate the house in a Christmas style.  My main tree is up, and I have 2 additional trees to place around the gathering spaces. I’ll also be adding holiday music for some aural decoration. I decided to run this as a potluck to differentiate it from Thanksgiving 2 (which I cater) because I think this makes it feel more like a family style gathering. I do give the guests directions/suggestions for what kind of foods to bring. I do not want 17 desserts and 3 main dishes.Overall, CH2 is a relatively simple event to plan, but much planning makes removes a lot of the difficulty. If it was too easy it might not be as fun in the end.

Last year was the very first CH2 and since then I’ve seen a few places where I can improve and add more holiday cheer. I’ve talked about the addition of music to the gathering areas in previous posts and I have decided to go with the "laptop stereo" option. It’s the easiest and doesn’t require me to buy anything new. On a decoration note, I had an epiphany 2 weeks ago when I found a place that sells Christmas stockings all year. I picked up a stocking for each guest and I have been putting the names of the guests on to each one with silver glitter. I will be hanging them up in either the kitchen or around the back porch near the ceiling. Hopefully, this is as neat to the guests as it is to me. The final new addition is lifted right from “A Christmas Story”. I am going to have someone play “Santa Claus” and hand out the gifts in the same way that Ralphie distributes the gifts at the end of the movie. I think the novelty will be a nice touch. Hopefully I can continue to add small improvements each year until I get this gathering closer to perfect. 

On a personal note I am having a lot of overtime this week. It is making this a bit rougher than it should be. Wish me luck and I hope you enjoy your own Christmas2 :Christmas in July event!

Wine, Beer, Cocktails and Song?

One of my favorite parts of the whole Thanksgiving 2 experience is that I get to share my love of wine, beer, Christmas music and cocktails with the guests. My regulars know that I have made a point of featuring local wines and craft beer in previous years, but new for this year I am adding in unique or "on-theme" cocktails. The song in the title refers to the possible addition of ambient Christmas music playing outside. This entry will be more on my thoughts on wine, beer and song and then my plan to include some sort of cocktail aspect into TH2.

      I enjoy wine as much as the average person, and I know that a good percentage of my regular guests do too. I try and provide as interesting of a menu as possible and now that I have the job of providing wine, I had to figure out which wines to supply. I figured I could go one of two routes. 1. I could hit the local wineries that are within an hour’s drive of my home and purchase a few from each place. 2. I could go to the state liquor store (the main place to buy wine in PA) research the highest rated wines and buy a wide selection from all over the world. Thankfully, this is one of the few easy choices I have to make. In general, I prefer buying local food items unless I come across something that I love from a far away land. As far as wine goes, I have not come across a wine from another state/country yet that really changes my mind. (please, keep in mind I am in no way a connoisseur of wines) This year I will be getting wines from The New Hope Winery, The Mount Hope Winery and Sandcastle Winery. It is too early to know exactly what I am going to offer, but I know I will have some of the Holiday Wine from New Hope winery. As for the other selections, I will decide in mid-November what else I will be offering.

          Several years ago I discovered I liked beer in many of its different forms and that started me on a crusade. The crusade is twofold. First, I want my guests to try beers that are from smaller more caring companies, and two, I want people to realize how many different kinds of beer are being made. I do not buy beer made by or owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev or MillerCoors.for one simple reason; they do not make the best tasting beers. They do take up the most space in stores and in most American’s minds. For the last few years I have been providing guests with a variety of craft/micro brewery beer in order to try and introduce a better quality of beer into their lives. The theme of this year’s event is Germany, so there will be several different German varieties available (I won't list them because I haven't finished my research) and I will have about 10 other varieties of beer from some of my favorite breweries: Founders, Malheur, Allagash, Southern Tier, DuClaw, and Dogfish Head. I hope I can steer just a couple of minds towards craft beer and away from the macro guys.

            Christmas music is something I know I enjoy perhaps a bit more than the average person. I have been accused of listening to holiday music all year round. Whether this is true or not is immaterial to an issue I had last year. I felt that the house was lacking in Holiday/Christmas feel. I’ve been unable to adequately decorate my home’s middle room and kitchen and I think this hurt the “cheer factor”.  This year to make up for the lack of decorations I am going to attempt to infuse the entire 1^st floor with merriment in a different way. This will be done with music. I should be able to “pipe” music into the outdoor area and somehow into the kitchen/middle room relatively easily. I may ask to borrow a phone dock or I’ll bring our laptop into play and throw on the Christmas station of Pandora or the radio station that plays it 24 hours a day. There are a few out of the way places that I could hide the music makers and give the house a “department store at Christmastime” feel. I’m hoping that with music playing in the background the cheer level will be just a bit higher and while everyone is having a good time maybe I can subliminally change their collective minds into liking the Christmas music just a bit more.

            Finally, over the last few years I have acquired an appreciation for the procedure, history and flavor of cocktails. Of course, I want to share this with everyone else (like Shady Maple). I have a sizable bar set-up, but I realize few people like having a job at parties so I am hesitant to ask someone to stand behind the bar all night. (I love having a job at parties btw) After seeing the success one of our friends has with his pre-made drink the he brings to gatherings I decided that this Christmas 2: Christmas in July I will test something brand new. I am making 4 pre-made cocktails for everyone’s enjoyment. They are color appropriate for the party, red, green, gold and white. The flavors are being voted on by the guests and the winners will be served. This seems like a good way to combine our bar with ease of use. For the post Christmas 2: Christmas in July post I will let everyone know how this worked.

            Next entry will be the build up to . . . . Christmas 2: Christmas in July!