Devil, thy name is Coors Light

Since befriending our neighbors last year we have become generally more spontaneous when it comes to meals. When my friend Barb phoned at 3:30pm yesterday to “find out how Jen’s interview went and see if she was ready to get her drink on” I quickly responded, “It went well, and HELL YES!” The kids were farmed out til at least 7pm, so we hopped over to Buffalo Wild Wings. With all thoughts of warmed over turkey leftovers escaping our minds, we proceeded to pig out on things like Ultimate Nachos, Queso Dip, Buffalo Chicken Salad and Jerk Chicken Wings. Oh yeah, and beer.

As you might have guessed “Drunk Jen” made an appearance this night. She also proceeded to inform everyone that “Drunk Jen is also Fun Jen” as the beer continued to flow. Fortunately “Plastered, falling-down Jen” never did find a need to arrive, though I think she was dangerously close to joining us. The party of four soon turned into a party of nine as more neighbors joined us and truly it was a lot of fun. Fun until this morning when “Hungover Jen” reared her ugly head. She is still around, though slowly promising a departure, surely before we go to church at 4pm followed by a party I apparently agreed to in my drunken state. Friends are coming over to help us cheer the Giants as they attempt to ruin the contemptable Patriots’ chance at a perfect season. (Sorry Debs) And don’t laugh – stranger things have happened in football, no? Well, one can always hope.

I also seem to remember last night there was some discussion about this blog. Friend Barbara for some reason refuses to visit it, which is OK with me – I mean, it’s here if you want to read it and if not, I still love ya man. But I think part of it is that she doesn’t really realize what the blog is. I summarized it to her as a sort of online diary where I also post recipes, photos and whatever odd thoughts enter my mind. Husband summed it up as “a place where Jen writes about food and how much she drinks.” Hmmmm… that would be an accurate description I suppose, but I would hope it is more than just that!

I also write about traveling. I do. And next week I’m flying to Austin with my little guy to visit my sisters. We are planning on going to First Night Austin and maybe an amusement park, and of course the visit won’t be complete without at least one stop (hopefully more) at my favorite place Culver’s. They truly have the best fast food burger on Earth. Even though their Butter Burger is the famous one, their “regular” burger (especially if it has swiss cheese & mushrooms) is like heaven in your mouth. But you must save room for dessert as the frozen custard puts premium ice cream to shame.

Whoops, there I go talking about food again.

Anticipation…

Well, it’s the day before Christmas Eve – or “Christmas Eve Eve” I guess. It took me a long time to get into the holiday spirit this year, for a few reasons, but I suppose I’m really into it now. I’m at that point where I say, “Everything that needs to be done, has been done, so it’s time to just relax and enjoy.” Of course “everything” doesn’t include the cooking!

Last night we went to a holiday party at our friends’ the Millers. It was really a lot of fun – all our neighbors were there, along with a few other people. Today was a typical “football Sunday” but only a few neighbors came over, and there was no drinking involved, primarily due to the excess of last night. I darted out to get the turkey from Sprouts – a fresh, free-range bird which we’ve never had before. Should be good!

I promised Justin we would decorate cookies tonight, which should be fun. We have a few different shapes, including a basset hound one which is probably our favorite. Tomorrow we’re going to the 4pm Mass at St. Anne’s (and so are most of our neighbors, I hear) then we’ll be hanging out at Jim & Kathy’s. It’s weird because it’s the first year since moving here that we haven’t had any family visit for Christmas. But Jim & Kathy are the closest thing to family we have here, along with our other neighbors (Todd & Barb, Meechaw, Monica & Matt and Lauren & Matt) so who better to spend Christmas Eve with?

On Christmas morning we’ll open our presents and see what Santa brought, then enjoy an egg & ham casserole and apple danish braid for brunch. For dinner we’ll be joined by Barb (whose hubby will be busy protecting our streets from Christmas criminals) and Meechaw. We’ll be having turkey of course, along with mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, crunchy cole slaw, and a few other things, most of which I’ll probably prep tomorrow morning.

With everything going on, I probably won’t post until after the Christmas stuff has died down, so best wishes go out to you for a spectacular holiday, whichever one you celebrate. Stay safe, warm, dry and enjoy time with your family and friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!