After the Party

We have carried on the tradition of the "Christmas Tree Cutting Chili Party @ Maria's House". However, we don't cut the fresh Christmas Tree on the day of the party anymore. We actually cut that the week before, because it has to up and decorated for the new "Open House @ Maria and Jeff's" Party.

We no longer serve chili. The menu has morphed into a menu that is more holiday traditional with the inclusion of shrimp, cold cuts and raw vegetable and dips.

The consumption of alcohol has changed. I can't remember the last person who over indulged, although a discrete mate may have saved us from the spectacle. We serve far more soda and wine and noticeably less beer than we did in the beginning. More to the point we serve less of everything

People used to show up dressed for the weather because we were supposedly tramping through the woods in search of the "perfect tree". Now, folks show up in one version of their holiday finniest.

The tradition started in Appleton and featured our friends and neighbors. It became such a fixture on Woodstone Drive that some neighbors thought that our daughter and son-in-law, who bought our house, should continue the tradition in our absence. In our second run in Milwaukee only one of the neighbors showed up and a collection of friends that could only be defined as diverse. These wonderful people are representative of the new people we have met in our various jobs and social contacts in our new home. Booksellers, retailers, board members from Historic Milwaukee, museum workers from Discovery World, Villa Terrace - Charles Allis and our one relative in Milwaukee Terry and Donna, all gathered to met each other and have intelligent conversation. Alright, lets just say the the Packers and fortunes of the deer hunt are of less concern in the city than they were in Appleton.

This tradition is now part of the fabric of this new social cloth we weave in our new home. It helps to make that nostalgic transition from the old one.