Progressive Dinner Party

It seems like ages since I’ve written a “Try This!” post, but our annual progressive dinner party is worth sharing. What fun to spend New Year’s Eve with a bunch of friends traveling from house to house through the woods, eating a potluck feast, and sledding until midnight. That’s how we do it in the country! (Though we’re reconsidering the “until midnight” part, just sayin’. It’s way past our bedtime.)

Your driveway might not double as a sled run, and you might not have woods to walk through, but you can adapt this model to where you live and still have a blast!

Our little house was third this year in the dinner progress, which means dessert. First was appetizers at our friends Jack and Nancy’s house, then we journeyed on a path through the woods, over the frozen farm field and across the footbridge over the creek to Diane’s house on Booty Family Farm for dinner. Finally, it was up the long, steep, winding driveway to our house for dessert. (Last year there was an attempt to navigate the path through the woods to our house in the dark. The adventurers made it eventually, but bushwhacking was involved!)

Little spurts of fresh air and exercise revived us between courses, and being outside reminded us, on this last day of the year, how beautiful our world is and how fortunate we are to live in the big woods surrounded by mountains. Some nights we have the moon illuminating our path, but if not, no problem. Everyone around here has a headlamp and grippers for their boots.

It’s helpful to have a space for unloading mounds of coats and boots. This photo is of the entry in Rachel and Stephen’s house across the way on Boxing Day. There were also children at that party, adding to the scrum of outerwear. We turn our downstairs bathroom into a storage area with a coat rack in the shower.

Good food is always a plus, and we always have it! This year we had an appetizer smorgasbord, three delicious soups for supper (lobster bisque ~ ooo-la-la!). Above is a photo of the three desserts I baked: lemon cheesecake, pumpkin roll cake, and chocolate-dipped pecan shortbread cookies. (You might have already seen those shortbread beauties in the post Baking Contest.) Let’s just say that no one went home hungry.

The weather cooperated beautifully this holiday season. We had black ice again for skating on Squam Lake at Christmas (see last year’s post Lake Skating), and then it snowed just enough for premo sledding. Todd used his new snowblower attachment to his tractor to clear the driveway without scraping down to the dirt. (You can see a very short video of him blowing snow at my YouTube station. Pop some corn!)

There was also a fire to stand around outdoors, and for those who preferred a cozy wood stove indoors, there was a puzzle to work on. We thought this classic wooden one would be a good pick because at 250 pieces, it could be put together in one sitting, but it turned out to be very challenging. (Okay, the Prosecco might have had something to do with it.) In any case, we weren’t watching “Rockin’ New Year’s Eve.” You can have Times Square, we want country air. (Ah, Green Acres!)

So put your head together with some friends and try a progressive dinner. You can make it as fancy or casual as you want, but however you organize it, mixing up the evening by traveling from house to house (or apartment to apartment) is lots of fun. Happy New Year!