This annual Christmas party has been going on, long before I ever arrived on the scene, but not as long as the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade or the traditional Lion’s Thanksgiving game.  It is a tradition and it is a mix of business associates and family members, though some have accused her of weighting it more towards her family, but she does as she sees fit.  It is always a good crowd and it is always the first Friday after the Thanksgiving weekend.  The entrants all bring a wrapped gift for an exchange and before they select a gift, they undergo a type of third degree, where my Bride reads their last year’s goal, the person must admit if they achieved their goals and they must state their new goals.  My Bride keeps her notes from each party and has scrapbooks filled with photos and memories.  It is fun, and if the participants didn’t enjoy it, I am sure that it would have disappeared from the horizon by now. 

Besides the entrant cost of a gift for the exchange, the ladies all bring a dish for a “pot luck” dinner, a curious tradition that seems to endure across all age and socio-economic groups.  Consequently, there is an abundance of food.  There were plenty of salads, mixed, creamed, Jello and Tabbouleh; finger appetizers like jumbo shrimp cocktails (there must have been two different women that brought the same type of dish), as well as hummus and pita, and cheese and crackers.  There were roast chickens and fried chicken, rolled sandwiches and some casseroles.  Also, plenty of desserts and I guess all of the women were happy.  I had a prior commitment, so I wasn’t there from the beginning and by rights, I should not have been, but I did attack all the food that was laid out on the island in the kitchen after saying hello to everyone. 

There were many different beverages being consumed with such a large group.   I saw a couple of bottles of Clos du Bois Pinot Grigio California 2018 finished off.  Clos du Bois was founded in 1974 by Frank Woods in Sonoma County and originally produced Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Woods eventually sold the winery to the beverage giant Constellation Brands, Inc. in 1988.  This was a very easy drinking wine that was aged in Stainless Steel to maintain the fruit and a floral nose.  I think that I may have been the hero, because I stopped and got a bottle of liqueur that I was touted about, that I had not heard about.  The ladies all loved the Baileys Chocolate Cherry.  Irish Cream was introduced in 1974, and Baileys accounts for half of all spirits exported from Ireland.  The recipe includes Irish Whiskey, sugar, cocoa extract, cherries and cream.  The whiskey is sourced from several distilleries around Ireland and they use two-hundred-twenty million liters of fresh milk each year.  In case you are curious, the cream and whiskey are combined, then homogenized with the aid of an emulsifier containing refined vegetable oils, so that the liquids do not separate when stored.  The alcohol preserves the cream allowing the liqueur to have a shelf life of two years.  The unanimous decision was that this drink had to be consumed over ice, as I was serving it, or with hot coffee.  I think that there is enough left for my Bride and I to have some in coffee, in the near future.