A New Year's Eve to Remember

My little sister Rachel wanted to plan a New Year's Eve to remember.  She succeeded.  Oh yeah, but there is one little catch . . . it wasn't exactly the kind of "memorable" experience that she had in mind.  To say the least.  If after you've read this you think you may enjoy reading a more amusing and extremely well-written accounting of the evening then you should head over to Rachel's blog.

My sisters and I all have anniversaries that fall the week after Christmas.  Laura and I are both on the 29th, and Rachel is on the 28th.  Oh yeah, and we all wore the same wedding dress.  That will come as no surprise to those of you who knew us growing up and know that we often buy the exact same clothes as one another.  Sometimes in a different color, sometimes not.  We are super cool.  For real.  Our dorky matching shirts aside, it really was the most beautiful modest wedding dress that any of us had ever seen (Although, let's be real . . . there are some KILLER strapless ones out there!  Sigh.), and even a very expensive dress becomes cheap when it is the only one that you have to buy for the weddings of your three daughters.  (You're welcome, Dad!)  I guess my sisters are lucky that I have good taste, and that it is the magical traveling wedding dress and miraculously fit all three of us perfectly, even though we are each totally different heights and builds.  Wait a second . . . how did this post become about our wedding dress?  Back to the topic at hand.  Because we have shared/similar anniversaries, Rachel thought it would be fun for all of us to combine for a fun and fancy celebration this year.  She envisioned dressing up fancy, having a classy dinner, and perhaps some romantic dancing involved somewhere along the way.  Well, at least we got two out of three.  After doing some research, we discovered that lots of downtown Denver hotels had New Year's Eve parties, so we thought we would celebrate that night.  We could leave Callum with Grandpa Mike and head out for a night on the town.  In an attempt to save money, we opted for a fancy dinner at home prepared by Logan, who is a wonderful chef for those of you who didn't know.  Then we were going to head downtown to the party and dance the night away.  Laura and Rachel even decided to take advantage of the combined dance and a hotel room prices and make a night of it.  We, sadly, had a breastfeeding baby to return home to.

Part I: The Festivities at Dad's House

The night came, and the beginning of it went off without a hitch.  Logan prepared a meal to remember, that's for sure!  In fact, he spent hours planning the menu, and he prepared for the meal over a series of days.  (Yes, that's right.  Days!)  I need to record his SEVEN COURSE MENU for posterity.  The rest of you can skip over it, but I am too impressed to do so.  It took a lot of work, and it was a huge hit.  Ryan told Rachel that it was the best meal that he had ever had in his life.  High praise, indeed!  Ryan and Sam did what they could to help with the dinner, such as chopping vegetables.  They also helped me decorate a fancy table, and Ryan was, as Rachel put it, one heck of a "sexy bartender!"  Our contribution?  Planning the night and looking lovely.  :)

New Year's Eve Menu
Planned and Prepared by Chef Logan McKenna

 Mocktails – Strawberry Mojitos, Cinderellas
Amuse Bouche (Pre-Appetizers) – Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts
Appetizer – Roast Garlic with Butter on Homemade Baguettes
Soup – Butternut Squash Soup with Homemade Croutons
Salad – Mixed Greens, Feta, Pear, Pistachios, White Chocolate, Red Wine Vinaigrette
Main Course – Roast Pork Loin with Maple Glaze
Side Dishes – Rosemary and Parmesan Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Green Beans with Butter and Lemon
Dessert – Individual Chocolate Souffles

Um . . . YUM! 

 

Our chef, hard at work.  (And wearing Laura's apron!)

  

 Sammy folding the napkins in fancy ways.  HIS idea!

  

  

 Laura's contribution was styling everyone's hair.  The girl has a gift!

  

 Callum was happy to have his Mama back for snuggling time once the preparations were done.  I love this picture.  (And this boy!)

 

 Our "sexy bartender," Ryan, hard at work on the mocktails.

 

Laura and Sam mix-and-mingling with their mocktails.  They are such a fun pair!

  

 Time for dinner!  Dad was taking the picture, but he and Callum dressed up and joined us as well.

  

 Yum.

 

 Yum again.

 

Dig in everybody!

 

 After dinner we had a photo shoot.  Logan told us to "work it" . . . and we did!  My sisters are so stinking fun!

  

 Family portrait.

  

Time to leave Cal Pal with his favorite babysitter and head to the party!

Part II: The NYE Party at the Denver Sheraton Hotel

Here is where things started to stray from the original plan.  You see, we anticipated that the real excitement would kick in as we arrived at the party.  Oh, it did, but not exactly in the way in which we had planned.  Our first sign that something was amiss in our plan was, as Rachel put it, the streetwalker dresses.  Have I ever seen anyone wearing so little clothing?  Yeah, once or twice, but that was in trashy clubs or walking down the Strip in Las Vegas!  The party was hopping, that's for sure, but it was crawling with a bunch of drunks who were smoking, swearing, and---wait for it---PUKING all over the hotel.  Yeah.  It was revolting.  I tried to stand in what was supposed to pass for a line and after fifteen minutes without budging peeled myself out of the angry crowds and went running over to Rachel, throwing my arms around her and crying out, "DON'T EVER LEAVE ME ALONE HERE AGAIN!"  She thought it was hilarious.  We decided to ditch Skankfest 2010 and head out to the street to see the fireworks of Downtown Denver.  Even freezing half to death was better than being in that trashy madhouse!  Not exactly what we had in mind, or what we expected from what we thought of as a classy hotel.  Then again, we did choose the cheapest party tickets from a website called "Clubzone.com."  Maybe that should have been our first clue . . .  

Happy (Belated) New Year!!!