Party Hearty

Every year on the Sunday closest to my birthday, we throw a party and guess what, a Super Bowl breaks out. This year they called it XLIV. All the regulars showed up minus Leslie (we missed her) and plus Brian (welcome to the tradition!). Food was prepared and consumed; money changed hands. It was a beautiful day and a great good time was had by all. Not only that, the Saints triumphed over the mind numbingly boring team from Indianapolis, faux Colts. WHO DAT! WHO DAT! Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!

We swapped last year’s Bacon Explosion for piles of veggies. That stuff in the jars is my home made pickled cauliflower and carrots. Here they are on their way to the dining room… betting central.

Not that we didn’t have meat, we had plenty. That’s a Burgers’ Smokehouse “City Ham” from Missouri. I made a K-Paul Meatloaf and macaroni salad with a barbecue flavor. Now that was good, and it’s a good thing because we had enough to eat for a week.

We didn’t make everything… here’s Paula with her deviled eggs and Sarah with her chili. After a taste of Sarah’s chili, one need an egg to cool down one’s palate.

And we had drinks, of course. That’s Kathleen and John mixing it up at the bar.

Betting Central. One cup for each of ten prop bets and the glass pitcher for the betting pool.

Here is Paul carefully choosing his proposition bets. This year, we invited son Eric and sibs Wendell and Tom to join in the betting from afar to jack up the pots. They all won… what a revoltin’ development. The green envelope labeled WR is for Wendell’s winnings.

Let the game begin. That’s Carrie Underwood singing. Over/Under 2 minutes 42 seconds. She held a few notes toward the end to go OVER by 4 seconds. Since I don’t have a stopwatch, I didn’t include this in my prop bets. She gave a good, straight rendition in any case.

Paul and Brian rake in the bet pool cash. Check out Kathleen’s socks and shoes.

Game over… winners won, losers lost. Good time.