For our Solstice party,  Joe really was able to get an entire theme going - tree and other specifically Christmas-themed things go in the warm, cozy living room while the crisp, cold outdoors (suitably pagan) is decked out in white, with tons of white lights strung everywhere and a white “snowfall” discoball and tons of shaved ice for people to play in. Noel made a snowman, replete with carrot nose, corn-cob pipe (well... kinda) and, for lack of coal, bottle-cap eyes and buttons. He was adorable, as was Noel, who’d never made a snowman before, having been raised in balmy Florida.

We had a space heater goin’ and a fire pit ‘round which people could huddle, or they could sidle up to the bar for noshy-munchy things, like some incredible hors d'oeuvres Joe and our good friend Stephen “kitchenbeard” concocted. In keeping with his white color scheme, Joe brought in oysters, which he learned to shuck, and he marinated white asparagus in a seasoned truffle oil vinaigrette. He also made a bunch of his fantastic risotto.

Since I didn’t have much time to directly help Joe in the time leading up to the party, I took care of my annual traditional Christmas card blitz in my “off time.” Since the process is so staggred with little steps, I can fit those little steps into my little break times between work, school, meals and other things:  for ten minutes between other responsibilities, for example, I’ll stamp all of the envelopes, or apply the return address labels. After my final final, I jumped into gear with Joe, pulling the backyard together with lights, sound and the placement of Stuff. I first came up with a good iTunes playlist, attractive to the tastes of everyone we know, then threw together a corresponding slideshow in iPhoto. I then built our 10’ x 14’ shade structure, lined it and the lawn outline with John Tock’s rope lights, installed the disco ball in the tent, lined the white picket fence with a long strand of icicle lights, then built the light lattice. The lattice was a 100’ rope strung back and forth eight times between the upstairs patio and the shade structure, stretching above the patio where everyone would be congregating. then more white icicle-style miniature christmas lights were strung from the rope, so that all above you, nearly 1,800 lights softly illuminated the patio, yet you could still see the stars through it all, and the nearly-full moon. I’d been thinking about how to do all of this for several days so when it came time for implementation, it really only took a few hours and I had all of the necessary cabling purchased and in place.

I’d wanted to serve a mulled wine at the party since Joe first mentioned putting it on, so I’d hunted online for a recipe, until I stumbled upon the recipe for Glöog, a warm, rich, sweet & spicy Swedish mulled wine, served with mulled raisins and almonds. We served it heated, of course, and it went over gangbusters - we could’ve made twice the amount and it still would’ve gone. Great, great stuff. Noel was ecstatic over it - apparently it’s huge in Sweden (not surprisingly) and he’d lived there for a couple of years. It’s pretty potent stuff;  two bottles of red wine mixed with two bottles of port, simmered for an hour with cloves, cardamom seeds, cinnamon sticks and orange zest, along with raisins and almonds. It’s then mixed with a syrup composed of sugar caramelized in half a bottle of brandy. Served warm with raisins and almonds... it’s stunningly tasty.

Anyway...

The party itself was a lot of fun - we are so amazingly blessed to have some of the sweetest people in San Francisco in  our lives. These people really remind Joe and me of why we live in San Francisco, charming ‘tho the City is in other ways. People came and went throughout the evening and really enjoyed themselves, cuddling around the heat or abusing poor Noely’s snowman.. Pics describe the whole scene much better than anything I could write (for sure), so here they be...