We always get a bit over-celebrated by Valentine's Day. With the Christmas Season, New Year's Eve, our anniversary on January 15th, and then our birthdays on February 4th and 8th. By Valentines Day we're a bit weary. We still celebrate . . . but at home here. We had an incredible birthday dinner last Saturday night at Pappadeaux . Tonight I'm making this for our romantic dinner here: Beef Tenderloin Medallions with a Cognac Cream Sauce, roasted asparagus, mini tarts filled with Feta cheese and caramelized onions, a great bottle of wine and for dessert my Winter Spice Molten Lava Cakes with semi-homemade rum-ginger ice cream ( and coffee). All sound like they take a lot of skill and time but they're actually fairly simple and easy to make and the tarts are from Trader Joes. Happy Valentine's Day to you all! Lynn

What a great post! We moved into our house in March of 2012 and we love to entertain. It is much easier in the warmer months since we have a large covered patio and the kids can play outside. However, we hosted our first large indoor gathering this past Christmas and it was very stressful!! So what were the lessons learned from this last party?? 1) Make rules for the children. -We found food in toy bins and stickiness from spilled juice on the playroom floor. Next time we will tell kids that food and drink are only allowed in the kitchen and dining room. -Designate one bathroom for the kids and put kid friendly towels in them. We have a beautiful powder room which got torn apart...scuffs on our beautiful vanity, stains on the nice towels, etc. Next time we will tell the kids to use the kids bathroom only. -LOCK doors! We did this for this party and it worked out great! We locked the toy room closet and left out several toys that were easy to put away. We also locked bedroom doors that we didn't want kids to go into. Closing a door is not enough! Kids usually end up opening closed doors out of curiosity or open them if they decide to play hide and seek! In our case this forces kids to stay in the play room area only with the kids bathroom close by. 2) Make sure you get RSVP's. We made WAY too much food so we ended up sending guests home with food. Even still a lot of food was wasted. I think it is always better to have too much food rather than not enough, but it was excessive in our case! 3) Clean as you go! We have double dishwashers so I could have easily cleaned up while talking to the ladies after dinner. Instead we all sat around and relaxed. The kids then had meltdowns and many were not able to stay and help clean up. My hubby got called into work at the end of the night and I was left with a major kitchen disaster at the end of the night! Yikes!! I think in the future I may hire a pair of high school gals to help keep the kids in order, help serve, and help clean up at the end of the night! Now for things that DID work out: -Preparing as much as I could the night before (e.g., setting the table, setting up beverages, putting out platters with sticky notes labeling what will go in them the next day, empty dishwashers, clean bathrooms and check toilet paper, etc) -Asking guests to bring something. I provided the main dishes and some appetizers. But then guests brought salad, side dishes, and dessert. We had designated areas for the appetizers/salad, main/side dishes, and dessert. So when the guests arrived we had them place the food in the appropriate area. I have learned to not have guests bring main dishes. We've run into problems in the past where people brought small dishes and there wasn't enough food to go around. -Self-serve beverage station. We get drinks for guests when they first arrive, then we make it easy for them to serve themselves for the rest of the night. We usually do beer, wine, and sometimes margaritas. Then we have a large self serve beverage jar that has water and lemon slices in it. And then juice for the kids. Juice boxes are a no-no because inevitably the kids squeeze too hard and the juice gets everywhere. At dessert time, we turn on a huge hot water dispenser and leave out a tray of different teas and chai. For the kids we leave out plastic cups and a Sharpie pen for parents to write their kids' names on the cups. Then for the adults I leave out wine and/or margarita glasses with charms on them (the charms are all different so guests can easily identify their charm/glass). I also leave out crystal clear plastic cups for adults to use if they want water. Depending on the size of the party, for hot drinks I will leave out either mugs or disposable hot cups. BTW, I also have crystal water goblets at each adult place setting. And I leave a crystal pitcher of water on the table at dinner time. -Having an adult table and a kids table. We had the adult table in the dining room and the kids table in the breakfast nook. This allowed us to have nice adult conversation without the kids interrupting us. We also had the kids eat first so adults could assist if needed. Makes for a more peaceful adult dinner time since the kids mostly played while we ate. -We did a gift exchange for the kids only. It was fun to watch kids open up a gift. -We took family pictures. We pulled each family to the fireplace area and took a family picture for them. I still have yet to email them out :) I have to admit, I was not crazy about doing an indoor party for that many adults and kids. Clean up was MUCH harder indoors. We may have to do a Christmas in July party this year so we can have the party outdoors!! Or have an adult only party at Christmas time. This post was edited by janealexa on Sat, Jan 5, 13 at 17:52

seagras, that's usually our New Year's eve tradition, the leftovers with a couple of things added. This year, I decided, and the little one agreed, we'd eat everything that was in the fridge or freezer beginning in November, before buying anything new. After the big birthday brunch bash on Christmas morning, my fridge was empty! I'd taken everything to my sister's house for Christmas Eve and my mom's house for the Christmas brunch. I was able to clean the shelves. I still haven't restocked. Nothing is left. Clean slate. That's what I like to think of right now as, instead of burned out. I have to be creative with what's left, like say, extra hashbrowns. Delmonico potatoes? What can I say? I can't afford to throw anything out, so I have to be creative. I'm betting it'll be Greek, whatever I buy when I am finally fully inspired to spend money.

Never the same meal for both holidays, either when I was growing up or now. Turkey for Thanksgiving, usually beef tenderloin for Christmas. My first MIL did do turkey for both meals as their dinner was Christmas Eve and everyone could just drop by anytime Christmas Day or evening and all the leftovers were set out on the DR table so one could help oneself. Second MIL - always prime rib, cooked and served by their cook! Sure was nice - no having to be helpful - we were all "guests" at this feast - same at Thanksgiving. Ruth was a fabulous cook and I'd take a Ruth in my kitchen any old day! I'm a very good cook and at one time, loved cooking but health and lack of stamina take a toll on my ability these days. For many years, we did lobster stew at my house on Christmas Eve and then Beef Tenderloin and cheese grits at DD's on Christmas night. A couple of years ago when DS started coming out to join us, we moved everything back a night. He leaves sometime Christmas AM as he gets his children (he's divorced) that afternoon. He didn't want to miss out on any of these wonderful foods, so now lobster stew on the 23rd and the beef on the 24th. DD then makes a pot of soup and puts out the leftovers and I go over Christmas night - no set table, just get some food and eat. She wants to relax on Christmas as she works so very hard the rest of the year. The lobster knuckles and claw meat arrived frozen on Thurs. I will make the lobster stew either on Thurs or Fri before 23rd - it's far better if the flavors have time to come together. Easy to just heat it up and serve it! There will by oysters on the half shell with champagne, before dinner. Then at the table, a salad of Bibb lettuce, ruby red grapefruit and avocado with poppyseed dressing, followed by the lobster stew and popovers. Dessert is always red raspberry sorbet with fresh red raspberries, mini cream puffs (yes, I buy them frozen - real cream, delicious!) dusted with powdered sugar, hot chocolate sauce passed. We then all collapse into a food coma!