It’s the Crazy Season here at Villa Verde.
It begins the week before Halloween, a make-believe holiday that the VodkaWife™ (aka Melissa) and I take all-too-seriously. And don’t even get me started on the VodkaSon the Younger™ and his candy fixation.
Then we segue into Melissa’s Birthday Season, a week-plus series of events involving various dinners and lunches with friends and family, finally topped off on her actual birthday when I make her something really tasty.
(Last year it was Ossetra caviar with all the fixins. This year it’s steak tartare. My secret ingredient is a touch of orange zest.)
Then comes Thanksgiving, an event so big that it takes two kitchens (ours and our in-laws) to prepare.
We’ll spend Black Friday at home, putting up lights and decorations all day and then getting quietly smashed that night while watching Die Hard.
Once all that is done, we’ll be well into the Christmas Season, complete with various get-togethers, gift exchanges, cocktail parties, etc.
Followed, of course, by Christmas itself, which involves yet more food and drink and two days spent at the in-laws’.
You’d think we’d be finished by now, but no.
VodkaSon the Elder™ turns 16 right in between Christmas and New Year’s, so that’s another big production. We also have just two days to tear down all the Christmas decorations so that his birthday doesn’t look or feel like an extension of Christmas. We’ve been doing that bit for almost 16 years now, and we’re pretty good at it.
After the big birthday bash, we’re putting on an even bigger New Year’s bash. This year, that involves turning two-thirds of our house into a mid-’80s dance club. Right after we put away all the birthday stuff.
New Year’s is followed by yet another tear-down and hangover.
Oh, and at some point before Black Friday, I have to take my boys out Christmas shopping for Melissa.
It’s a labor of love, really. There’s not one thing on this list that Melissa or I would give up or quit.
All of which is my way of saying sorry that I don’t have time to write a long-winded intro to this week’s “Five O’Clock Somewhere” with Stephen Kruiser, special guest Kevin Downey Jr., and Yours Truly.
Wait… did I just spend almost 400 words telling you I don’t have time for a long-winded intro?
Oops.
Hope you enjoy the show.
