Tree-trimming on Nov. 29th

Today is a very special day: my older brother is turning 40! The only thing that comforts me in this difficult situation of having a very old sibling is that 40's are the new 30's, as we geezers love to believe.

I'm feeling more than just a tad blue for not being there to celebrate with him, so I decided to have my friends over for an early X-mas tree decorating event. Most of the usual (Clare, Deb, Chris), one neither- here- nor- there (Andrea) and some unusual (Seok-jong and Jung-ah) suspects were in attendance. Everyone contributed to the maximum of caloric enjoyment of our little party. Honourable mentiions go to Clare and Deb. Clare came loaded like Mrs. Santa with cranberry sauce, fruit and marble cakes, spiced cookies, wine, whiskey... Deb, an absolute royalty in the united kingdom of gluttony brought cheese fondue and egg-nog ( in the course of the evening the latter would be genetically and generously altered by whiskey). I had made an earlier trip all the way down to Wal-mart to get bigger grilled chickens. With a wee bit of imagination and a dollop of cranberry sauce they were to star as X-mas turkeys (congrats, chicken, on your Oscar- winning performance).
After dinner, it was off to decorate the tree. All the kids had a really good time of it, nibbling on cookies, cake, fondue, guzzling whiskey and wine, rolling on the floor.... It was a really cheerful evening of pre-Christmas festivities. Alas, gotta go, am called to clean up the post-party mess.