Holiday Cheer

One of my favorite parts of Christmas are the Holiday parties! We attended two this weekend and had such a good time at both! On Friday, we went to the third annual Hanukkah potluck in Crawfordsville. Our dear friends, Peter, who was the swim coach at Wabash, and Allyson are Jewish but were always too far away from their families on the east coast to really celebrate Hanukkah. Scott, another Wabash staff member, decided that this was unacceptable and offered to host a Hanukkah potluck. So the tradition began... an evening filled with fabulous traditional Hanukkah cuisine (brisket, potato latkes, kugel, and some Manischewitz--but mostly just for looks) and the lighting of the menorah. Peter and Allyson moved to Maine two years ago, but the tradition continues.
Edible Dreidels--A funny little Hanukkah snack for the wee ones.
Push a pretzel stick in one end of a large marshmallow. Add a dab of peanut butter on the other end (it acts like glue) and attach an unwrapped Hershey kiss (My favorite this time of year is the peppermint!). You can't really play the game, but what fun to eat!

On Saturday night we ventured to Beth and Dave Price's house for their annual Christmas party and "Dirty Bingo" extravaganza. "Dirty Bingo" is a type of white elephant with a twist. Everyone at the party writes down 10 numbers between 1 and 30. When your number is called you take a gift from the pile in the center of the room. Once all of those gifts are gone, you start stealing from the other party goers---of course you don't know what you're stealing because the gifts are wrapped. Some gifts are perfectly usable--a bag of gumballs, coffee beans, bottle of wine. Others are funny little leftovers of someone's past--Indiana Beach T-shirts, vasectomy advertisements...you get the idea. Nick and I use this party as our personal "Goodwill" drop off. This year we took themed bags. The "stationary" bag held a pencil holder that doubled as a clock (the clock didn't work) and a very large Wabash College notepad, that wasn't even sticky like Post-Its. Our "romance" bag held random votives, a speedo, and one of those cheesy romance novels set in the 1800's. For an added touch, Nick copied pictures of our faces and taped them over the faces of the characters on the cover...hilarious! You get the idea. We must have played our cards right because at the end of the night, we had peddled all of our junk off to several other unsuspecting souls and we came home with just one gift, a bottle of wine.
One of the highlights of the event is always the lime sherbet punch, and let me assure you, it certainly packs a "punch." I asked Dave for the recipe and apparently there isn't really one. Here's how to start it out:

1. A little lime sherbet in a blender
2. Add champagne to a desired consistency
3. Blend
4. If you're feeling extra sassy--add a few shots of vodka before blending

It's what I would refer to as a "DD" kind of concoction--delicious and dangerous, even in small amounts. Remember friends, slow and steady wins the race!

Thanks for the fun Beth and Dave!