Hey, where were you? I kept waiting for the bus to pull up, had extra plates ready and had your wine all poured! Sad story about the tablecloth (which had holly leaves embossed on it...was definitely only for Christmas). I buy several boxes of tapered candles at Marshalls right after Christmas. Well, we're eating, drinking, talking laughing, etc. and my daughter says, "oh look at this candle". It has a big ball of drippings on it. Right when she said that the ball fell onto the tablecloth and burned a whole into it. Of course, I'm just finding this out now, when I went to throw it into the washing machine. I'm going to try to mend it, and I'm throwing those bargain candles out! Ahhh, the beef Chianti was soooo good. My DH made double the recipe and served it over egg noodles. Here's the recipe: BEEF CHIANTI 2 T oil 2 gloves chopped garlic 2 lbs. beef cubed for stew 2 T flour 2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 2 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce 2 cups Chianti wine 2 cups water 1 tsp. oregano 1/2 tsp. basil 1/2 tsp. thyme 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 2 cloves, crushed (we omit) pinch crushed red pepper 1 bay leaf 8 small white onions, peeled (we quater a couple of onions) 4 carrots, cut crosswise (we add more) 4 medium potatoes, cut in large dice Heat oil in skillet. Add garlic and meat and brown. Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper. Transfer meat to 3 qt. casserole (we double it and use 2 casseroles). Add tomato sauce, wine and water to skillet and heat and scrape brown crust from skillet. Add seasonings and pour over beef in caserole. Add vegetables. Cover and bake in a 300 degree oven for 2 hours or until beef is tender. One batch makes 4-6 servings From Fondue, Chafing Dish and Casserole Cookery by Margaret Murphy Enjoy! And thank you all for your sweet comments, oh and for the funny ones too!!! Happy New Year!

I didn't get the chance to take any pre-party photos since I had several family members helping me set up and felt rather silly taking photos of the setup. However, the flowers are holding up great in the mason jars 5-days later--SIL thinks it may be due to the citrus in the water. I sent DS to choose flowers and he did a great job, keeping it simple. Here is one of the mason jars (5-days post party): DH has my camera with memory stick at the moment so when he gets back home I will look and see if there are any more pics there I can share.

We grew up in a big old house built about 1900. The separate dining room was quite large, especially by today's standards, and had built in china cabinets and drawers under the windows. Above the set of drawers was a large beveled mirror, and I used to sit at dinner and make faces in the mirror to while away the time. Mom finally assigned me to the seat across the table next to my brother to get me to concentrate on my meal and eliminate the faces. I remember being required to eat everything on my plate before I could leave the table. Dinner was always potatoes, meat or chicken, two vegetables, mother's homemade bread, milk, and dessert on Sundays. Sometimes a salad was part of the meal too. We were served at the table by our father who carved the meat. We were to sit until my parents decided we could leave the table. They would linger over coffee. My father was quite the story teller and had been a vaudeville fan growing up. He told us stories, jokes, incidents from his day or his past, etc. He held court, and asked us about our day too and how school was going. Grades were expected to be high. Expectations and standards were instilled. I found some of my dad's stories so funny that I would laugh too hard and have trouble catching my breath, so much so that I would be laughing and start to fall off my chair for lack of oxygen. My tall older brother would reach across my chair, grab my arm or my shirt, and drag me back up into my chair. I can still picture that long arm reaching over for me and pulling me up to my seat. When my oldest sister attended the local university, she would sometimes bring home friends who were attending school away from home to have dinner with us. Our dinner table conversations and our dad became the talk of her circle. We assumed everyone had dinner in the same kind of atmosphere as ours, but learned we were uniquely blessed. My parents died when I was still in school, but those lessons learned at our dinner table guided me throughout my life and especially in my grieving.

So the original plans stated cutting the legs at 38 degrees, and hubby did it. When it crossed it should have been x inches tall. NOT! The instructions were bad. Even I could see the slant was off. Then I reminded hubby he got A+ in Geometry. So he came in and re-thank the thing. Did drawings, and it should have been a 60 degree angle to get the height needed for the table top. Why don't they give proper instructions? Anyway, he figured it out and is down there under the deck trying to make it work. I do not think Picnic Table building is a walk in the park!!