Are you coming to my Christmas Eve dinner? I know you readers can't possibly make it but James and I have such lovely news we want to share with everyone. And, with MM, Megan and I working together on this affair, it is bound to be the highlight of the season. Livy and James Vandergriff are having a wonderful Christmas party!
Prime rib will be the centerpiece and, if you've never tasted MM's prime rib, you're in for the treat of your life. Garlicky mashed potatoes, beef gravy, green beans tied in bundles with strips of red pepper, spinach/pear/cranberry salad, and mile-high red velvet cake for dessert will the be menu. Just reading this makes my mouth water.
Do attend if you can. The entire evening will be quite an experience. The house, inside and out, has been artfully decorated and the big surprise is that for the first time James and I did most of it. It's taken a while but I've learned that being a real part of Christmas means you must get involved in all of the traditions, even make some new ones of your own, with head, hands, and heart.
Though MM and Megan will cater this (and yes, I did pay them well, gave them no instructions or limitations like I once did--and you do know that MM set me straight that time, don't you?), they are among my welcomed guests. Jim and I have invited people important to us--not like those business owners and leaders of society I once thought made the perfect guests either.
the guests at our table this year will be the ones who make our life so special on a daily basis--MM and Miguel and Bethy Rose, Pastor Micah and his wife, Leonard and Cora Skaggs, Jewel and Ernie and Kathy Tate--and, of course, Harold. Sam, the owner of the Shamrock Station/ambulance service/tow truck is a welcome addition; his wife is the sweetest thing, and funny, too. Megan and little Jeffrey, our newest town residents, will complete the guest list.
I would have never known this joy if Miguel hadn't called Jim to go undercover on a case, and MM hadn't sat me down to rake me over the coals, knock me off that pedestal Daddy had placed me on, and made me see how much of life I was missing. MM claims I saved her life during those resent troubling times in our town, but it was really MM who saved me.
And, at dinner tonight, we're going to let our favorite people, our friends, our new family know that by this time next year the Vandergriff family will have grown to three. Isn't that the most wonderful news to share on the night of Jesus birth?
Now, don't you go tellin' folks my news, you hear!
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