Blue Moon

December 31, 2009



Christopher Peterson

Blue Moon

Marta

The final week of the decade has been pretty exciting and what has been overall a pretty good decade for us, closes out this evening with a rare Blue Moon New Year’s Eve. I’m not one to read those “year in review”, or “decade in review” stories and I am not about to attempt to recap what has happened here, suffice it to say that Kathy & I feel very blessed and fortunate to have so many wonderful people as part of our lives. To all our family and friends, we wish you the happiest of New Years and hope that the Twentytens bring you health and happiness.

Kathy

India

Before getting on to the next year, we have to recap the last week of 2009. Christmas day was wonderful. We all slept in after our late night party the previous evening and eventually got around to opening presents and spent much of the day simply relaxing, even choosing to skip one of our favorite Christmas day gatherings out of laziness.

Tex

We did eventually get up and about, enough to make a late appearance at the home of our friend Bill Rowan who was hosting a Christmas dinner that was very similar to his wonderful Thanksgiving party. The thing I love about the Rowans, in addition to the eclectic and cool people there, is the quintessential relaxed feeling that is found there. It is like all the guests are extended members of the Rowan family and it feels so comfortable that we were sorry that we could not stay longer.

At the Rowan's

Jack

Mad Dog

We had to leave early to get down to the La Te Da for the Drag Show of course. What Christmas in Key West would be complete without the Christmas night performance by the talented Christopher Petersen and his incredible show Eyecons in which he impersonates a legendary line-up of iconic stars from Julie Andrews to Cher to Barbara Streisand.





Michael, Christopher & Marta

Only in Key West would attending a Drag Show be considered somewhat normal Christmas night entertainment, and Marta was especially gung ho after having met Christopher at a holiday party. In fact she returned to La Te Da the next night with her friends from North Carolina to see Randy Roberts show as well. Both Randy & Christopher sing all their own songs, unlike many of the drag performers in town who lip-sync.



Kathy & Michael

Marta

The remainder of the weekend, we just spent time with Marta before she returned to Winston Salem on Sunday. We cleaned up the house, went to see a couple of movies, “Up in the Air” and “It’s Complicated” and basically relaxed a little before the next onslaught of parties surrounding New Year’s Eve.

Tex

Kathy & Michael’s 4th Annual Christmas Eve Open House- Part II

December 25, 2009

Michael

The Ford's



Kathy & Michael’s 4th Annual Christmas Eve Open House- Part II

Tara & Jasmine

There were enough photos to include a second blog entry just to include these additional images from our wonderful holiday party. If you didn’t make it to our 8 plus hour extravaganza this year, mark your calendars for next Christmas Eve and we will see you all back again then. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that the New Year brings you happiness. Best – Michael & Kathy

Mark & Lilla

Cathy & Jim

Austin, Durk, Blake & Tina



Charlotte



Rudi, Holly, Craig, Jack & Anja



Olive & Katie

Jasmine & Charlotte

Chris & Erin

Sheldon & Susan

The Larke's & Marta

Grace & Brooks

Jack, Marta & Rich

Kent & Guillermo

Marta, Tom & Kitty

Kathy, Lisa & Richie

Chiana & Talon

The Royal's

Bob & Barbara

Larry, Pru, Barbara & Sol

Kathy & Michael’s 4th Annual Christmas Eve Open House

December 25, 2009

Steve, Danielle, Melissa & Rick

Marta , Howard & Liz

Marky, Christa, & Michael

Kathy & Michael’s 4th Annual Christmas Eve Open House

T.J. & Gil

We were slightly nervous in preparing for our 4th annual Christmas Eve open house party this year. The weather was somewhat overcast and cloudy and it felt like rain was possible at any point throughout the evening. The forecast called for a 50% chance in the evening and a quick look at the radar confirmed a line of showers heading towards the Keys just as our party was set to get underway at 5 pm.

Joanne & Brent

Fred & Connie

Rob, Sharon & Trevor

We had spent the day cleaning, organizing and preparing, opting to move the bar from the exposed location it has been the past three years under the cover of our porch overhang and sure enough at just about 5 PM, light sprinkles began to fall. But providence was smiling on us as the rain stopped almost as quickly as it began and not a single drop fell the remainder of the evening.

Erika, Mike, Sherry & Steve

the Becker's

I think the threat of rain delayed the arrival of some guests as unlike past years, we were not inundated from the start. People started arriving in earnest around 5:30 and did not stop arriving until almost midnight. It was easily the biggest crowd we have had yet, with just under 300 people joining us over the course of the night. It was a long night too, as the last guest didn’t depart until around 1:15 am Christmas Day. In between, we were thrilled to have so many friends and family join us to share in the holiday spirit.

Lynn & Brewster

Tom & Terry

This year we hired additional help. Our wonderful bartender Andrea was back again, but to assist with the food prep, we had Dennis & his girlfriend Shanna to help us out. And help us out they did, in fact they went above and beyond, Dennis even managing to fix our malfunctioning garbage disposal which failed mid-party. We could not have done it without all of their help. Thanks so much Andrea, Dennis & Shanna. Hope you can all be back next year.

Andrea

Shanna & Dennis

We had a lot of food and libations. Kathy cooked a 20 lb. turkey and a couple of hams and we purchased 9 platters of food and cooked a huge amount of hors d’oeuvres and other snacks. In fact we were cooking so much and using so much refrigerator space that we had to utilize the kitchen and help of our neighbors Angela, Daisy & Cookie, who provided invaluable help and were the un-sung heroes of the night. They kept fresh food coming throughout the long evening so that no matter what time guests arrived there was plenty to eat.

Greg & Beth

Brendan & Lauren

Randy, Lisa & Todd

Of course, we always end up with more beer and wine than we started with and lots of folks brought drinks, food, desserts and even small gifts. Thanks so much to our wonderful friends, but thanks most of all for just showing up and sharing a portion of your holidays with us. We are thrilled that so many people come and that so many bring their family, friends and out of town guests along. That is just what we wanted, for people to be able to relax and let us give back a little to this wonderful community that gives us so much year round.

Marta & her NC friends!

Steve & Srea

the Etshman's

Debbie & Nadene

My mother, Marta was blown away, I think by all the people. I had tried to prepare her, but it really something that one has to experience to appreciate. The people just kept showing up in waves and she loved meeting so many of our friends. I tried to take some photos and while it may seem like there are a lot of photos here, I really took relatively few compared to the crowd. It was hard just getting around to say hello, let alone to get photos. For long periods of time, I did not take a single photo, but I am including as many as possible here.

Michel & Marta

Esme & Kathy

The Grusin's

Kathy & I had a great night. To all our friends who could not make it, we hope you will come next year for our big 5th annual party.

Michael, Christa & Mark



Howard & Marta