In Which Stepper Indulges in a Really Good Time

We do Oscars the way some people do the Superbowl.

I knew I had to sneak away and get a good blog post in before midnight (this isn't going to be a habit - me squeaking a post in before the deadline each night. Though you must admit, it does add a certain thrill of suspense); but oh, I had such a good time tonight. I refused to break away until my conscience began to knock incessantly on the walls of my brain, pointing furiously at its wristwatch.

Quarter after eleven! What kind of post are you going to be able to scrimp by with in 45 minutes?!

So, kids. This is it. Post numero tres in my 100 day pledge - and it's already feeling sorry for itself.

But back to the Oscars.

We had some family over, and my dad printed off Oscar ballots. The winner who guessed the most correct wins was promised a prize. We set up the kitchen bar with the essentials: shrimp with cocktail sauce, veggie platter, bruschetta, Megan's chocolate brownies, strawberries, etc. etc.

Bill and I set up a Mocktail bar, featuring such delicious concoctions as: The Sundance (as in Film Festival. Get it? eh???), The Scarlet O'Hara, the Hasbeen (this one was a bit bitter)...We had a lot of fun pretending we were on the set of Cheers, asking anyone who approached the bar "what are you drinking?".

The adults mingled while the kids ran around their legs. There was Oscar talk - about dresses, movies deserving and movies not, jokes that hit the mark or fell a bit flat.

Suddenly the best picture was announced. Weird. To my memory of Oscar parties gone by, it always took FOREVER for that final statue to be awarded. Tonight, I wondered why they'd rushed through things so much.

The clock betrayed that it was after ten.

Things weren't rushed. I was just lost in the ambience of it all.

Kids were gathered, guests left - all but a few of us sitting on the couch refusing the enjoyable evening's ending. And that is when the REAL fun started.

There is something that happens to my family when we get together for a good time - and it happens to get late on us. I should note that at this point, Bill had excused himself to go work on that ever-pesking homework. It was unfair that he missed the giddiness that occurred. I think there were honest to goodness tears of mirth!

We discussed family lineage, we poked fun of each other and our awkward childhoods, we reminisced about vacations and mornings before school and things that we used to keep on our 'three-things-we-don't-have-to-eat' lists. How funny it was when my mom found a mouse in the cabin and went out of her way to jump up on the couch three rooms away to shout "RUSSELL!" when the poor thing was clearly dead and my dad was not even in the same county.

We all had a story to share, and we all had an ear to listen, and who needs a camp fire anyway? Just give us an Oscar party and a late hour. We'll take care of the rest.

Oh, and did I mention? There were blackberries for dinner.

More evenings like this one, please. And oh, look at that! It's only 11:37! The evening is still young!

(think I can persuade Bill to abandon his homework and watch a Dr. Who episode with me?)