Hectic holiday houseful

Well, David and Rebecca are arriving Friday, Helen and Jay and Peter on Saturday, and then Lucy and John will get here Sunday. Tom, Helen and Jay have been consulting on what to do about meals. There has been some uncertainty because we were not sure until today that David and Rebecca would be here, which means some kosher options have to be part of the program. Friday night will just be them, Tom and me. Tom is working hard on most of the meals except for Christmas dinner itself (which I think will be Christmas Eve, actually), so I volunteered to cook for Friday. The easiest way to go kosher is to go vegetarian, so I am planning a vegetarian Mexican meal -- a sort of cheese/bean enchilada casserole and a green salad. I made one for Hannah and Miriam once in Chicago when they came over for dinner, since they are vegetarians, and they liked it a lot. And it isn't too much work.

I assume Helen and Jay will also arrive with Buddy the Dog, so the house will be full of people and animals and the cats will no doubt be thoroughly flummoxed by all the activity. Tom and I take a room at a nearby motel and have a place to escape to when it gets too much. Since the young folks tend to stay up late (let me rephrase that -- stay up all night), it is nice to be able to go somewhere nice and quiet to sleep. Helen and Jay get my room, Lucy gets Tom's, David and Becca get the guestroom and the boys get to sleep in Tom's office. Buddy the Dog will most likely sleep on the floor in my room by Helen and Jay, and the cats will sleep with whoever will let them.

Joe has a trial in southwestern Wisconsin Friday morning, so he won't be in the office. He and Evelyn are not coming in on Monday, Christmas Eve, although I will keep the office open. So I won't see him again until after the first of the year. We had an impromptu office Christmas party today -- salads from Monk's down the street for lunch and I got my Christmas bonus. (Yay!)