Make It Fancy

Once again this year, a fraternal group Hubby Tony belongs to sponsored a New Year's Eve dance at our church. Tony divided the event coordinating responsibilities with another man. Part of Tony's responsibility was to be at the parish center several hours before the doors opened to let in the people setting up the bar and photo booth, and the members of the band.

Last year when Tony did the same job, he was able to coordinate the times and come home for a quick dinner. But when things weren't working out as conveniently this year we came up with an alternate solution. I would take our dinner to him.

When he left for the first round of let-ins Tony took his dress up clothes, our card table, and his portable mp3 player. I quickly got everything together for the meal, changed my clothes and put on makeup. An hour later I left the house with a tote bag holding linens, china, silverware, a votive candle, and a bottle of seltzer, a thermal lunch box containing pork loin roast, rice pilaf, a small loaf of take-and-bake bread, and a Yeti filled with coffee, a small cooler holding pre-dressed salads, a plastic container of butter, a container of mixed cut fruit for dessert, and lime slices for the seltzer. An additional tote bag held the cake roll that was our snack contribution to the table.

I arrived at the parish center at 5:00, just as the last of the bar set up people were leaving. Tony had placed the table in the middle of the dance floor close to the stage, right underneath the bag of balloons for the midnight drop. The room was dark except for the glow of the parking lot lights coming in through the large building windows and a couple of dim emergency lights. A laser light projector at the far end of the room covered the walls and ceiling with a random pattern of small colored dots.

I dressed the table, lit the candle, and got out the salads and bread while Tony retrieved ice for our drinks. When he returned he turned on some music and we made a first toast to the new year. After the salad was finished Tony removed the plates while I got out the main course items. We did the same thing when it was time for dessert and coffee.

Our timing was perfect. Just as we finished the first of the band members arrived and our special time was over. Tony moved back into volunteer mode while I cleaned everything up and took it out to the car. Soon there was no sign that a special meal had taken place.

Five years ago today: Last Night/First Night