Tree trimming party

So yesterday we had our annual tree trimming party.  It went very well, but it certainly was NOT without challenges.

Our plan was to bake the 3 pans of lasagna, a cake, and a large tray of brownies on Sat morning, so it could all be cleaned up and Sun could be spent reheating the lasagna and setting up the food and drinks.  But Sat morning the oven was taking an unusually long time to heat up.  In fact, after more than an hour it still hadn't come to temperature.  After a quick Google search, it appeared that 1 of the 2 elements wasn't working.

I tried calling someone to fix it, but we live in an area where repair people rarely work on weekends, so we had to come up with some alternatives.  We ended up baking everything in our 18 quart Nesco roaster (counter top oven).

Then I discovered water on the bottom of the base cabinet underneath our kitchen sinks.  I felt the drain pipes and disposal but they were dry.  I guessed it might be the supply line but it was too far into the cabinet and I'd have to unload everything to get to it, so I told Spouse "Let's get through this party and call a plumber on Monday".

Then on Sun as we were setting up the food and drinks Spouse was transferring the frozen punch ring from its plastic bucket into our beverage dispenser (with a nozzle).  When the punch ring dropped into the dispenser, the glass stand broke into several pieces!  After cleaning up the broken glass, we pulled out a vintage punch bowl and transferred the punch ring to it.

It would almost be funny if it weren't so stressful.  But fortunately we came up with work-arounds and the tree trimming party went very smoothly.  The food was delicious and everyone had a great time.

Here are some photo highlights:

The white Nesco Roaster is on top of the stove, underneath the microwave.

Quinn enjoyed petting Marvin almost as much as Marvin enjoyed being petted.

Quinn told Walter "No, no, no".

Spouse's homemade lasagna was a big hit with our friends.  We used warming trays to keep them warm.

I made a Christmas tree shaped cake dusted with coconut and decorated with edible ornaments.

I made brownies with white chocolate chips.

I loved Michael's Christmas sweatshirt with Santa in a vintage Cadillac convertible!

The finished tree looks beautiful, thanks to the help of our friends.