This coming Friday we’re throwing our Second Annual Holiday Munchie Party at our home here in Mesquite. We’ve invited about 40 neighbors. The party will start at 3 p.m. and will probably end by 6 p.m.
We inaugurated the tradition last year about six weeks after we moved into our house. It was a good way to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood and make new friends. It was a big success.
Of course, last year we had virtually no backyard. Now, we have a BIG, landscaped yard,with a covered patio and a large separate patio with pergola built for outdoor events like this. We’ll have seating for about 30 people outside and another dozen or so inside. Not everyone will sit, so we’ll be fine.
It is a potluck, with every guest household bringing some kind of appetizer or dessert item to share. We will provide the plastic dishes, utensils, paper goods, and such. The neighborhood throws one of these potlucks about one a month. There is typically a TON of food, most of it real tasty. That’s a benefit when you live in a 55+ community: lots of good cooks.
Some of our neighbors are helping out. Our good friend “Sandy” is co-hosting, which means that she will bring water, soft drinks, ice, and some decor. I believe we are going to put her 13′ inflatable snowman in the backyard.
The Tapscotts (Darian and Barbara) are letting us use some patio furniture…a four-person setting with glass top table. Unfortunately, Darian broke one of the four glass panels when I picked it up at his house. I felt like a shit, even though it wasn’t my fault. But, the Tapscotts said, “No problem, we’ll fix it!”, so it will be ready on Friday.
One thing that we won’t have much of at this party is BOOZE. Last year, we bought eight bottles of wine and a case of beer. Virtually no one drank wine, and maybe four beers were consumed. We found out later that most of our neighbors don’t drink much, particularly at the potlucks. So, we’re skipping the alcohol freebies this time.
We’re going to need every square inch of space and seating for this party, so we will leave the French doors to the backyard patio OPEN and keep the household HVAC on “heat” for the three hours. Weather is supposed to be in high 50’s that afternoon, so we’ll tough out the chill in sweaters and such.
My left hip is just about back to normal now. It’s a bit stiff, but I have just a small limp and can do virtually everything I could before. I should be ready to PAR-TAY by Friday.