Tiffany and I had both of our families over to our place Saturday for the first official open house. Apparently party preparation effort increases by 500% when you have to feed the guests.
For any other party I’ve thrown, all for friends my age, the most effort I’ve put in is driving to the keg store and then hauling the thing inside.
For Saturday’s event, I had to make three car trips to the grocery store just to make sure we had all the right food ingredients — returning the second time for tea bags (the kind that actually make tea) and the third time for two boxes of cream cheese.
It was partly our own fault. We bought enough food to feed each person for three meals based on what everyone actually ate. But it’s better to have too much food, I suppose. I’ll just be eating brats and hamburgers for lunch this week instead of turkey sandwiches. Works for me.
At least the corn on the cob turned out well. Eventually. I could only fit about 7 husks on the grill at a time and there happened to be around 13 people there and some change. Not to mention it takes about 30-40 minutes for corn on the grill. I had to put the first batch back on because it wasn’t quite done.
So the corn was a sort of first desert, arriving after people had their burgers and/or brats. Or crab dip or Skyline dip or vegetables with dip or cheese ball.
It was nice getting our families together for the first time — the members that could make it at least. One of my grandmothers supposedly had to have a crown put back on her tooth at 4:30 that same day. Being that it was on a Saturday and dentists don’t normally have weekend hours, I think somebody was telling a little fib to not have to come up from Cincy.
For those who did make the effort, it was a little funny watching them interact with members of the alternate family. One gets so used to seeing his or her family members in their own element — such as your dad’s own house or your grandmother’s own house when you visit them — that it’s almost weird seeing them around people they don’t know. To witness the shyness or awkwardness come out of your older family members is a little … cute I guess. Being a manly man, I really don’t want to use the word cute, but it’s really the best word to describe the scenario.
My brother Josh and I ended the night as the undefeated cornhole masters and the out-of-nowhere cartwheel competition title, I think, everyone would have to say goes to Tina.
Next up, the open house for our friends. I think it’s going to have to be B.Y.O.F.
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