Dinner party on the 23rd

This has been a wild couple of months.  Sitting out in the sun for several days straight at the end of November and beginning of December is something I don't recall doing in life.  But, the other shoe has fallen and it is to be cold...no other word for it, so it is time to Christmas party.  The Florida family is coming, some by plane, some by car (with a dog). Nancy, my niece and her husband Danny are coming for an overnight and bringing Buckeyes! So we are having an all day and a candlelight dinner on the 23rd.  Candlelight because it gets dark about 5:00, but we won't be dining until after 7:00.  At first I thought of keeping this sensible, but you know how that goes. Guests will arrive in the afternoon and we will have hors  d' oeuvres and soups and cards and drinks, and what ever else appears.  Part of the Cincinnati family will be here too.  I should think there will be around the same number as we had for Thanksgiving, 18 or so. The house will be full and the bedrooms will be occupied.

Nate leaves tomorrow for his sojourn which begins in California. We won't see him again until its time to go to work in the spring.  Nate the traveling man will spend a month or so in Hawaii and go from there to  places new to him.  That's the life of a bachelor who pays his own way in life and enjoys what it brings.

Have you actually made Buckeyes?  I am getting a bunch for December 23rd from Nancy.  We used to make hundreds of them with her sister, Linda, along with cookies galore.  We would start the day after Thanksgiving (or the week end after Thanksgiving) and we would bake every week end until a week or so before Christmas.  We fed all of our families and friends Christmas cookies.  I thought there was paraffin (wax) in those Buckeyes, but every recipe on the Internet has just a few simple ingredients and no paraffin, so I am glad that step is gone (if it ever existed.)  I could be wrong.

Another wrong is Trader Joe's big cans of popcorn.  It is not very good, there isn't much of it, just a lot of cardboard in a big can for $10. Skip that one.